AFRICA OF TO-DAY 



BY THE SAME AUTHOR 



THE COMING CHINA, 320 pages. 

With 49 illustrations $1.50 net 

In Preparation 

SIBERIA-RUSSIA 
CANADA MEXICO 

A. C. McCLURG & CO., Chicago 




Copyright, Underwood &* Underwood, N. Y. 

Grand Avenue of Rams 
One oj the southern approaches to the temple oj Karnak, Thebes 



AFRICA OF TO-DAY 



BY 

JOSEPH KING GOODRICH 

Sometime Professor in the Imperial 
Government College, Kyoto 

AUTHOR OF "THE COMING CHINA" 



WITH 30 ILLUSTRATIONS FROM 
PHOTOGRAPHS AND ONE MAP 




CHICAGO 

A. C. McCLURG & CO. 

1912 



UTS 
.Gift 2 



COPYRIGHT , I 9 I 2 
BY THE PLIMPTON PRESS 



PUBLISHED MARCH, 1912 



Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



THE .PLIMPTON -PRESS 
[ W • D • O] 

NORWOOD-MASS'U'S'A 



©CU309714 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction ix 

CHAPTER 

I. Africa of Fable i 

II. Africa as the Dark Continent and its 
Emergence into Light : Missionary 
Enterprises Briefly Touched Upon . . 17 

III. Northern Africa 32 

IV. The Peoples and Tribes of Northern 

Africa 49 

V. The Sahara: The Desert, the Oases, the 

Inhabitants, the Life 64 

VI. Egypt: The Mysterious Land of Ancient 

Days 80 

VII. Egypt: The Land We Now Know ... 94 

VIII. The Nile : Historical, Legendary, 

Picturesque no 

IX. Central Africa 127 

X. Eastern Africa 144 

XI. Western Africa 161 

XII. South Africa 190 

XIII. The Blacks in Africa 218 

XIV. Everybody's Africa 233 

V 



vi CONTENTS 

XV. America's Relations with Africa. Africa 

in the Future 2 5° 

XVI. White Man's Aerica and the African 

Islands 267 

XVII. "Cape to Cairo" 285 



Bibliography 3 01 

Index 3°7 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Grand Avenue of Rams Frontispiece ^ 

The Beginning of the Nile facing page 8 v/ 

Blacks from the Equatorial Plains Climbing a Mountain 18 ^ 

Victoria Falls, Middle Zambesi River 24V 

The Palace at Fez 38 w 

Native prisoners under Arab Guards 54 k 

Picturesque Ruins of the old Royal Palace at Zanzibar . 721^" 

The Ramesseum, Thebes 86 

On the Shoulder of the Great Sphinx 92 

Coffee Picking in British East Africa 104. 

The Great Dam Across the Nile at Assuan, Egypt . . 112. 

The Grotto-Temple of Abu Simbel 122 v^ 

Hunting the Wild Bull, Depicited on the Temple Wall of 

Rameses III 124 1/* 

The Beautiful Water Front and Harbour of Zanzibar . 136 / 

Native Troops at Moschi, East Africa 144. 

A Group of Wachagga People 148 "' 

At a Station on the Uganda Railway 152 *^ 

A "Country Store" in the Wilds of German East Africa 156 **" 
East African Women of the Meru Tribe Lined up for a 

Dance 160 - 

Throne Room in the Sultan's Palace at Zanzibar . . . 164 ^ 

Eternal Snow almost^on the Equator 182 v 

Street in Hanover, Cape\p)lony 192 * 

vii 



viil ILLUSTRATIONS 

The Town Hall, Durban, Natal .... facing page 196^ 
Immense Precipitating Vats at a South African Gold 

Mine 204 *'' 

" The Compound " of the De Beers Diamond Corporation . 206 

Diamond-bearing Blue Rock 210' 

The Sultan of Morocco on the March 232* 

Native Porters Curing Antelope Meat After a Hunt . . 244^ 

A Typical African Jungle Trail 272 ^ 

Victoria Falls 290 ^ 

Map of Africa 300 / 



INTRODUCTION 

IF this book were to be restricted to a description of any 
one part of Africa, or if it were intended to discuss the con- 
ditions existing in just one particular section, no matter how 
extensive, and to treat of manners and customs therein, with 
an account of the native population; or if it were intended to 
discuss serially the various parts of the great continent in a 
manner even approximating to careful history, an apology 
to the intelligent reading public for venturing to prefer a 
claim to its attention would be in order here, because there 
are already so many books at the reader's service to give him 
all that character of information. But it seems to be entirely 
proper to offer to the public a sort of general handbook which 
shall deal with some of the problems of to-day in a popular 
manner that may be entertaining and which, it is believed, 
will be instructive. Not unnaturally, however, such a vol- 
ume should be, it seems, divided into parts which are given 
to the topics bearing upon one particular section of Africa, 
since there are distinct differences between the questions to 
be answered by the authorities entrusted with the responsi- 
bility of exploiting a particular section and similar prob- 
lems that face officials in another, perhaps distant, part of 
the continent. 

There is such an enormous mass of literature treating of 
Africa historically, much of which still possesses a peculiar 
charm of its own, although now centuries old, that even a 
synopsis thereof would greatly exceed the limitations put 
upon the size of this little volume. And besides, to prepare 
such an epitome would be, in the existing circumstances, a 
foolish act of supererogation, because the reader who is 
interested in that topic — and it cannot be denied that it is an 

ix 



X INTRODUCTION 

absorbingly attractive one — will have little difficulty in ascer- 
taining, each for himself, just where to find that information 
which treats of the subject from the point of view that he 
wishes to take; whether it is Africa as, after all, an almost 
unknown part of our globe, or some particular section which, 
in the process of discovery, exploitation, and evolution, has 
come into prominence, either ephemeral or with a greater 
or less measure of seeming permanence. Yet it should be 
noted here that there is no satisfactory bibliography of 
Africa at this moment at our service; not even one which 
has arranged the books already written a score or a half- 
score of years ago. 

It seems, however, to be entirely proper that there should 
be just one chapter to serve as a sort of background against 
which shall be drawn the scenes pourtraying the events and 
setting forth the conclusions that are to make up the succeed- 
ing chapters; and in this conception of the proprieties the 
book opens with a chapter entitled "The Africa of Fable" 
that is just sufficiently historical to give those readers who 
have not a thoroughly comprehensive view something to 
enable them to understand clearly the Africa of olden times 
in contrast with that we now know. To this chapter, then, 
the reader's attention is drawn in order that there may not 
be too abrupt a plunge into the discussion of problems which 
are interesting in themselves, even when divorced from the 
history of Africa, and filled with suggestions for the future. 
Each day, almost, brings to our attention some fresh condi- 
tions in that great continent, or transforms so radically 
those which had before existed as to make them seem to be 
something almost new. Just at the present time the atten- 
tion of the peoples of Europe and America appears to be 
directed more particularly towards Eastern Asia and Africa 
than elsewhere, but with respect to Asia that attention 
may almost be said to be concentrated upon China and to 
a consideration of what will be the final outcome of the 
changes which are now taking place there. Some discus- 
sion of these and perhaps a rather presumptuous, it may 



INTRODUCTION XI 

be contended, forecast of the near future in China has been 
made in the author's book entitled "The Coming China." 
But even before that volume had been published the long- 
lived disposition to discredit every effort of the Chinese to 
make real progress along lines of reform and substantial 
development comparable with American and European 
standards had asserted itself; for Mr. C. D. Jameson,* 
whose experience and long residence in China surely justify 
us in saying that he should know whereof he speaks, expresses 
himself in a way diametrically opposed to the opinion of the 
present author, and the views expressed in various journals, 
most of them British, as to the insincerity of China's crusade 
against the opium curse — yet in the very face of statistics 
which were accepted by all sincere friends of China — are 
but added evidence in this regrettable line. 

But as to Africa, it is hardly correct to say that attention 
is concentrated upon any one particular section, because the 
interests of Europeans are scattered over the great continent 
so widely that a very broad horizon must be secured if an 
approximation even is to be had of what is taking place. In 
many regions the conditions appear to be marching along 
quietly towards a consummation that promises nothing but 
good for the land, the natives, and the immigrants; while 
in other sections the state of affairs leaves sometimes a little, 
at other times a great deal, to be desired by those who would 
like to see the development of Africa proceed along the best 
paths. Again, in one district or another, the state of affairs 
verges perilously near to that acute stage when it would seem 
as if European Powers must inevitably be involved in war, as 
was the case but a few months ago in Morocco. 

We in the United States have but a small direct share in 
what is taking place in Africa; perhaps most people will con- 
tend that, beyond a friendly interest in the Republic of 
Liberia, we have no special interest in African problems at 
all. Yet such a view, it seems to this writer, evinces an indif- 
ference to the affairs of the great world, of which we have 
* The Outlook, New York, July 15, 1911. 



Xll INTRODUCTION 

become in recent years, more than ever before, an active 
part, that is not compatible with our social and industrial, 
our domestic and international aspirations. That some of 
our representative men have expressed an opinion of Great 
Britain's policy in Egypt and of her rights there which must 
be looked upon as indicative of peculiar views stated in 
doubtful taste, to say the least of them, hardly relegates all 
the problems of Egyptian exploitation to the pigeonhole of 
unimportant matters. If Belgium has pursued a course in 
her Kongo rubber-producing regions at which we could not 
consistently have pointed the finger of scorn but little over 
a half century ago, that is no excuse for indifference now. 
So too with problems of acquisition, government, develop- 
ment all over Africa. In themselves, undoubtedly, they are 
no part of our affairs; still, in the interests of that humanity 
for which we profess to stand stoutly and fearlessly, we must 
give heed to what is going on in all quarters of Africa. Not 
that it is contemplated for a moment to suggest that the 
United States has the faintest right to interfere in the conduct 
of affairs there by any of the other great powers, unless it 
should be in conjunction with other nations in protest against 
a palpable violation of the simplest laws of humanitarianism, 
but merely that we must have that interest in the affairs of 
the whole world which our recognised importance thrusts 
upon us. If America's "plethoric purse" is to be drawn 
upon to help finance schemes of exploitation, it is manifestly 
essential that those who hold the purse strings shall be well 
informed as to the uses to which their money is to be put. 

To give that desirable attention in a somewhat satisfactory 
manner, at least, it is essential that our information should 
be augmented, even if it is in but a small measure, for it can- 
not be made perfect and complete until Africa has absolutely 
ceased to be in any sense of the term "The Dark Continent," 
and that is not likely to be the case for many a long year yet 
to come. It is with the hope of contributing at least a little 
towards the sum of such desirable, comprehensive knowledge 
that the present volume is offered to the public. Its short- 



INTRODUCTION Xlll 

comings are manifest almost at a glance; its weaknesses are 
certainly more distressing to the workman than they can 
possibly be to anyone of those for whom he hopes he has 
wrought. He does not claim to have visited any considerable 
part of the great continent of Africa, but he has little hesita- 
tion in saying that, if the field wherein he has presumed 
to labour were closed absolutely to all save those who know 
its every nook and corner from that actual personal observa- 
tion which comes to those only who have visited a country 
with the express purpose of writing its history, there 
would never yet have been written a book about Africa as 
a unit, and it is extremely improbable that such a volume, by 
one just such esoteric author, will ever be prepared. Even 
such men as Livingstone, Stanley, Cecil Rhodes, not to 
burden the reader with a long list of those who really have 
travelled extensively in parts of Africa, could not have 
laid claim to the right and qualification to tell us of that con- 
tinent as a whole, provided the condition was laid upon the 
author that he should speak only of that which he had seen 
with his own eyes, heard with his own ears, handled with 
his own fingers, and felt with the experiences and sensations 
of his own body. 

It requires but a glance at the earliest known accounts 
of Africa, whatever may be their source as to language or 
the nationality of the writers, to show us that all of those 
explorers depended largely upon what they had heard from 
others; and by no means does it follow that these "others" 
always were competent to give information at first hand. 
And this comment applies with equal force, almost, to the 
accounts of travels given by later visitors, when the obliga- 
tion to adhere somewhat closely, at any rate, to fact had come 
to be recognised as a necessary qualification of the would-be 
describer or historian, and when myth or fable had to be 
carefully branded as such. Yet this present writer claims, 
with good reason, to have seen some things with his own eyes 
and to have heard very much more from men who have taken 
part in the making of history for many parts of Africa, Egypt, 



XIV INTRODUCTION 

the Sudan, North Africa, East Africa, the Union of South 
Africa, Rhodesia, the West Coast, the northern strip of the 
continent, the heart of "The Dark Continent," and other 
portions. When he has taken precise information from the 
work of others, due credit is given and reference made so 
that readers may confirm the citations, if they wish, and 
what is probably better yet, may pursue their investigations 
more thoroughly, as to some particular district or phase of 
life, than it has been possible to do in this little book which 
has condensed into a few hundred pages that which justly 
forms a whole library unto itself. 

The great continent derived its general name from one of 
its ancient provinces, that which was for a long time known 
as Africa Propria; the part of the land which extends in a 
narrow strip along the Mediterranean Sea. This great body 
of water was also called the Hesperian Sea, from the word 
Hesper, or Vesper, signifying West; it was known, too, as 
Mare Magnum ("Great Sea") and Mare Inferum ("Lower," 
in contradistinction to the Black Sea). Africa Propria 
reached from the ancient province of Mauretania (its farther 
coast washed by the Atlantic; Morocco is a part of it) on the 
west to Cyrenaica in Libya (associated with the name of 
the philosopher Aristippus) and bordering upon Egypt, 
where is now the kingdom of Tunis and where was once the 
seat of government of the celebrated Carthaginians. The 
ancient Greeks spoke of Africa as Libya, taking the name 
from another of the provinces, the desert part of which 
marched with Egypt. The old Arabs gave to the whole con- 
tinent (that is, as they knew it) the name of El-ber, which 
signified a divided or forsaken land. The people of India 
(Hindustani especially) called Africa Bazehah. The later 
Arabs spoke of it as Iphrica — rather Aphirika — which 
quickly became Afrika, by borrowing the name from Euro- 
peans yet limiting its use to Africa Propria, already mentioned, 
because the continent, as they knew it, was to them Maghreb, 
"Western," since it lay in that direction from their own land. ' 
The Ethiopians gave to so much of Africa as they knew 



INTRODUCTION XV 

(which after all was not a great deal) the name of Al-Kebutan, 
while the Persians, Armenians, and other peoples in ancient 
times had different names, varying most remarkably accord- 
ing to the quaint, awful, mysterious, or simply unknown 
characteristics of the land bestowed by each individual nation 
or tribe. 

The etymology of the name Africa is another puzzle, deri- 
vations for it being directly as the number of writers; but 
perhaps the most plausible is that which derives it from a 
corruption — or more correctly, philologically, a logical change 
— of the Phoenician word Pherio or Pheruc, which signifies 
an ear of corn ("corn" meaning what is specifically distin- 
guished as " wheat" in America); hence "the country of 
Africa" came to be so-called because it was known to abound 
in that necessary commodity, which those great traders 
carried in their ships to many other countries. But we can- 
not leave this subject of etymology without repeating the 
delightful bit of adventurous tale given by the Portuguese 
writer Manoel Faria-y-Sousa, an historian and poet who 
lived at Madrid, 1 590-1649, in his "Africa Portugesa." He 
gets the name from Melech Ifriqui, a king of Arabia Felix, 
who having been defeated in war by the people of Higher 
Ethiopia, in a battle which took place near the banks of the 
Nile, forded that river with what remained of his army and 
its supernumeraries, followers, etc. — women, children, ser- 
vants, slaves, and the like. He then crossed a portion of 
the desert of Libya, settled in the eastern part of the Berber 
country — modern Barbary — and called his new home by the 
name of Ifriquia, from his own. The running down of this 
word into Africa is a very simple matter in the effect of attri- 
tion upon place-names, while of the story itself we may 
very well say with the Italians se non e vero e ben trovato ("if 
it isn't true it is plausible.") 

There was much and strange confusion among the ancient 
historians and geographers about the defining lines of Africa. 
That Ptolemy should have declared it extended quite to the 
South Pole is amusing, and we can hardly suppress a smile 



XVI INTRODUCTION 

when we think of southeastern Asia extended through the 
East Indies, to absorb Australia, and then going on to join 
Africa projected, making the Indian Ocean a mare clausum. 
Others disputed about the proper line dividing the two con- 
tinents Asia and Africa. Sallust and Pomponius Mela cut 
off Egypt Marmorica from Africa, making the valley of 
the Catabathmos the boundary. Others again, among 
whom was Strabo, declare that the River Nile was the divid- 
ing line, notwithstanding that Herodotus (at whom Strabo 
openly sneered, yet to whom we are now disposed to give a 
good deal of credit for having been a fairly astute observer 
and, all things considered, a pretty accurate recorder, because 
his myths and impossibilities would deceive nobody) had long 
before confuted this absurd notion, arguing that if it were 
consistently adhered to, the most important part of Egypt, 
that which is called the Nile Delta, would be neither in Asia 
nor yet precisely in Africa. But all of these old geographers 
were sadly aglee when it came to computing the area of the 
continent; a few going to ridiculous extremes in augmenting 
it most extravagantly, others erring on the side of overcon- 
servative diminution. Even Strabo had so little notion of 
Africa's actual extent that he roundly condemned those who 
made it out to be one-third of the then-known world, and 
he declared it was too small and inconsiderable in every direc- 
tion to deserve such distinction. 

We owe the Arabs a grudge for their effort, a wicked 
and silly one, to blot out the remembrance of the ancient in- 
habitants of Northern Africa by giving new names to many 
places, and thus causing such geographical confusion that the 
older Africans, upon their recovering the land, could never 
thoroughly rectify it; to which statement may be added the 
charge that many of the old cities, and whole provinces too, 
were quite laid waste until restoration was impossible, and 
so the memory of the former inhabitants was totally lost. 
We find that as far back as 1526 writers could not come to 
even tolerable knowledge of the old geography, in spite of 
great pains and patient industry given to the subject. These 



INTRODUCTION Xvii 

old-timers had to content themselves with dividing the Africa 
which they knew into the four great parts — that is, Barbary, 
Numidia, Libya, and Negritia — leaving their readers quite in 
the dark as to the rest. Those who have any interest in this 
subject, or are merely curious, should if possible read the 
account given by Christopher Cellarius (i 638-1 707) and 
consult the curious old map which he gives of Ancient Africa. 
Later, if the reader's interest goes out to ecclesiastical matters, 
he is recommended to read "The Universal History." 



AFRICA OF TO-DAY 



AFRICA OF TO-DAY 



CHAPTER I 

TEE AFRICA OF FABLE 

THERE is to-day but little of the earth's surface 
which is branded as unknown to us, or even 
marked "unexplored" on the recently prepared maps: 
a little of Asia — Tibet and some other parts of that 
wonderful Central Asian Plateau, and tracts in Siberia, 
for example; a few relatively small patches of Africa, 
around the throbbing heart of "The Dark Continent," 
although some of these areas, when measured by mileage 
or acreage standards, would be found to be of no mean 
dimensions, and some of them, indeed, exceed in size 
that of full-fledged "countries" of Europe. If we speak 
with precision, as of course we should do when discussing 
geography or history, there are some pieces (insignifi- 
cant they may almost be called) of both divisions of the 
Western Hemisphere which have not yet been so accu- 
rately explored, surveyed, and mapped as to satisfy the 
exact student of geography; for there are still some 
considerable areas of the Dominion of Canada and small 
parts of Alaska, too, that are, to say the least, vaguely 
drawn on our present maps. There are also tracts of 
no mean dimensions in South America about which our 
knowledge of their physical geography and, certainly, 



2 APRICA TO-DAY 

of their ethnology are yet a little too indefinite. It is 
hardly necessary to repeat the truism that we do not 
yet, by any means, know all there is be to known of the 
isles of the sea when we read of an expedition in Dutch 
New Guinea discovering a tribe of natives living in 
conditions of primitive simplicity, discarding clothing 
entirely (raiment, in fact, being unknown to them), un- 
able to grasp the idea of numerals beyond two or three; 
and yet this was done in the year 191 1. Of the Arctic 
and Antarctic regions we probably now know as much 
as will satisfy the ordinary reader for a long time to come; 
even if there may be vast tracts of absolutely, as yet, 
unexplored land in the neighbourhood of each Pole. 
The episode connected with the northern one seems to 
account for the indifference with which the public look 
upon the British expedition towards the South Pole, and 
perhaps explains the amusement caused by the Japanese 
failure. 

But he does not have to be a tottering centenarian, 
by any means, who can recall distinctly the time when 
the great continent of Africa was a mysterious, still 
unsolved, most alluring problem; and yet it is second in 
size to Asia only of the integral great divisions, having 
nearly ten million square miles of superficial area. It 
would seem almost as if the horrors of climate, peoples, 
and animals with which the ancients invested the coun- 
try beyond the narrow fringe along the southern coast of 
the Mediterranean Sea and the lower part of the Nile 
Valley — most of the Egypt that we know — had con- 
tinued to exert its influence upon Europeans until well 
into the nineteenth century. A man of but little more 



THE AFRICA OF FABLE 3 

than middle age can easily remember Africa as a land to 
which a few people went, men (and women, too, perhaps) 
who were obsessed by some strange craze, either for 
specific purposes, commerce, — but that was felt to be 
but rarely legitimate in those days of slave capture, 
ivory and gold depredations, and the like, — or evangeli- 
sation; to be sure there were a few — a very few — who 
went in the pursuit of pleasure; and still fewer to explore. 
Yet all went with that sense of personal danger which 
so often (may we not rightly say "always" in the case 
of such bold hearts as beat high when Africa was the 
goal?) adds spice to any occupation. All were looked 
upon by their friends who stayed at home as veri- 
table adventurers — and foolhardy? Yes, probably 
most lookers-on thought of them in just that way half 
a century or so ago! 

Yet dotted here and there along the nearly twenty 
thousand miles of coast, there have been ports of entry 
for greater or shorter periods of historic time. The 
northernmost of these, whether on the east, along the 
western shores of the Red Sea, or the west, in the remotest 
parts of ancient Mauretania (along the Mediterranean 
littoral, of course), had been visited at the very dawn of 
history. In those eastern and western and northern 
ports there was a certain measure of civilisation, varying 
greatly in character according to locality and in number 
of those who were foreigners, it might be of one type or 
a mixture of several. Yet, not excepting the northern 
coast, that bordering upon "the tideless sea" and facing 
the countries of the cultured peoples just across the 
Mediterranean, it was but a step from these outposts of 



4 AFRICA TO-DAY 

European civilisation into the unknown territory, just 
back of this narrow strip, which so often swallowed up 
everything, man or beast, that passed the dreaded 
boundary. True, indeed, is it that this vast continent, 
though associated with the dawn of civilisation, with 
traditions and mysteries of the most stimulating kind, 
has remained until recently one of the least known and, 
both commercially and politically, one of the least 
important of the great divisions of the globe. 

What a difference it makes in the visitor's first impres- 
sions and his subsequent opinions how one approaches 
the great continent. If from the north as, of course, the 
majority do first reach Africa, it is not always actual 
land that is first seen — usually the tall towers and min- 
arets of Port Said, at the northern entrance of the Suez 
Canal, rise up from the blue waters of the Mediterranean 
long before the low and level shore begins to show itself; 
and he who has just left Italy behind him once more 
recalls to mind the appearance of Venice, if he ever came 
back into that city from the Adriatic along the Grand 
Canal and its outlet. It was somewhat the same in the 
days before the Suez Canal route was opened, when 
steamers landed at Alexandria and passengers went by 
train to Cairo, for the night only, if in a hurry to catch 
the connecting steamer, and the next day on to the dis- 
agreeable little port of Suez, where now the canal opens 
into the Red Sea. Perhaps it is unnecessary to say so, 
and yet there may be some who think of the Suez Canal 
as they have naturally been led to do by their experience 
with other canals; that is, as entered or left through 
locks. But there is no lock in any part of the Suez 



THE AFRICA OF FABLE 5 

Canal; at either end steamers enter right from the sea, 
as if going into a river. There is no appreciable current, 
and the difference in level between the waters of the 
Mediterranean and the Red Sea is a myth which caused 
amusing apprehension when the project of digging the 
canal was first mooted. When Alexandria is the objec- 
tive port, it may be that the Libyan Hills first assert 
themselves to introduce the new continent; or perhaps 
suddenly, although there may be nothing else really to 
indicate it save the turbid water replacing the world- 
famous blue, the traveller realises that he is passing 
along the broad base, projected far into the sea, of 
the Nile Delta, although he may yet be nearly a hun- 
dred miles off shore. Such a preponderance of those 
who are going to Africa make Port Said or Alexandria 
their port of entry that this brief description is prob- 
ably that of the common impression of the continent, for 
the first time seen. 

Westward of Alexandria, yet still along the shore of 
the Mediterranean, this first impression varies greatly 
as it is the coast of Tunis or Algiers or Morocco that 
first looms in sight; while those who pass through the 
Straits of Gibraltar have a vastly different first view of 
Africa, as they see it at Cape Spartel, or Jebel Musa, 
" Apes' Hill." But nowadays so many tourists, Ameri- 
cans especially, make their first acquaintance with this 
continent at the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, "The Gate 
of Tears" — because the old mariners dreaded the dan- 
gerous place so much and for such good reason, tide- 
rips, treacherous currents, shifting shoals, sudden gales 
conspiring against them — that they see on the Africa 



6 AFRICA TO-DAY 

side the bleak desolation of sand matched by equal deso- 
lation of Arabia in Asia. 

Then, jumping in imagination some five thousand 
miles to the southern end of the continent, and approach- 
ing the coast at Cape Town, now quite as popular a place 
of entry as the older northern ports, Table Mountain 
and the surrounding bold headlands create quite another 
first impression; or perhaps False Bay lures the careless 
or befogged mariner into trouble which leaves anything 
but a pleasing first impression. Yet no matter from 
what direction the approach is made, there is even now 
quite enough of mystery about Africa to make the nerves 
tingle and the imagination run riot, as perhaps no strange 
land can do, possibly excepting Palestine; and the influ- 
ence of the Holy Land is of such a totally different nature 
that even this exception may also be passed over. 

With what consummate skill Nature seems to have 
worked in making the African continent a land filled with 
dreadful, impossible mysteries for the peoples of Europe, 
and of southwestern Asia too, in ancient times — three 
thousand years ago! In the north, across the whole 
breadth, save the narrow valley of the Nile, stretches 
the great desert of Sahara, forming a barrier that was 
simply impassable until the Arabs took their camels 
there, and even with these there was little more than an 
advance, certainly not a conquest, for a very long time. 
It is most appropriate to call the camel "the ship of the 
desert, " for the shifting sands, blown to and fro almost 
like the waters of the sea, are not unlike mighty waves 
over which the camel alone can ride in safety. The fact 
of there being such an obstacle to progress as the desert 



THE AFRICA OF FABLE 7 

could not but have had the effect of making the strangers 
from Europe and Asia fill, in their imagination, the 
regions beyond with all manner of dreadful creatures 
and to give the fullest credence to the tales told by the 
savage natives about fearful places far off in the distance 
whose very inaccessibility added a weird fascination. 
Then, too, the one great river, the Nile, that furnished 
what might possibly have been used as a means — and 
the only means at that time — for penetrating the regions 
to the south, was itself, perhaps, the deepest mystery of 
all — its periodical rise and fall occurring with almost 
uncanny regularity, both as to season and as to volume, 
when the flood was at its height. What fed the great 
stream in those hot regions which seemed to forbid the 
very thought of moisture? This was a puzzle that must 
have sorely baffled the colonists for centuries. 

It is certain that Greeks and Romans established 
colonies along the southern shore of the Mediterranean 
at a very remote time past, but beyond that narrow 
fringe of fairly attractive land bordering the blue waters 
they made no successful effort to penetrate. The Phoe- 
nicians, too, had settlements in northern Africa fully a 
thousand or fifteen hundred years before the time of 
Christ. Cambyses III, the son and successor of Cyrus 
the Great, of Persia, effected the conquest of Egypt 
in the year 525 B.C. and made that country, for a time, 
a part of the Persian Empire. So that all the evidence 
points to a fairly intimate acquaintance, among the 
inhabitants of the ancient kingdoms of Europe and the 
Levant, with the fertile Nile basin and the Mediter- 
ranean coast of Africa. But that same testimony con- 



8 AFRICA TO-DAY 

firms the mystery which enshrouded the mighty land up 
the Nile Valley, and beyond the narrow sections which 
the Europeans and Asiatics had reached. 

For that which is not really very ancient but certainly 
most quaint in the old literature about Africa, we turn to 
"The Marvellous Adventures of Sir John Maundeville, 
Kt." Whether or not Sir John ever really lived and 
travelled and wrote an account of his "marvellous adven- 
tures," or dictated them to a scribe who added embel- 
lishments to please his own scholarly fancy, are not 
of the slightest importance as facts. That which is told 
in the book represents fairly well the opinions concerning 
the mysterious land of Africa (and almost every then- 
known corner of the world) which obtained in Europe at 
the time when Sir John is alleged to have lived; that is 
to say, about the middle of the fourteenth century, for 
Mr. John Aston's edition of "The Voiage and Travayle 
of Sir John Maundeville, Knight, which treateth of the 
Way toward Hierusalem and of Marvayles of Inde and 
other Hands and Countreys," states "ye shall here by 
me John Maundeville Knight which was borne in Eng- 
land in the town of Saint Albones [St. Albans], and 
passed the sea in the yeare of our Lord Jesu Christ 
A. Mill, C. [although Pyson and other authorities say 
MCCCXXXIL] on the day of Sainct Michael, find set 
down." No two of the many editions of this interesting 
and most amusing book agree precisely in words, so that 
they are in reality almost translations rather than mere 
renderings (transliterations shall we say?) into familiar 
English. One of the easiest to read is that by Mr. 
Arthur Layard, because it is done into modern spelling. 




Copyright, Underwood &° Underwood, N. Y. 

The Beginning of the Nile 



THE AFRICA OF FABLE 9 

Herodotus, of course, is rather disposed to give full 
credence to the marvellous tales from and about Africa, 
south of the Egyptian boundary and west into the Libyan 
desert, and consequently Strabo often has a sly fling at 
Herodotus' credulity. " Herodotus and other writers 
trifle very much when they introduce into their histories 
the marvellous, like [an interlude of] music and song, or 
some melody [as if for the purpose of sweetening a pill 
that otherwise would be hard to swallow] ; for example, 
in asserting that the sources of the Nile are near the 
numerous islands, at Syene and Elephantina, and that 
at this spot the river is of unfathomable depth." Strabo 
tells us that he himself entirely discredits these fables of 
other historians, and declares that he introduces some 
of their marvellous yarns merely to round out his own 
narrative; yet it is not always clearly indicated in his 
own text when some of these astonishing tales are just 
these "introductions" and when the statements are 
given credence by himself. One of the stories that 
Strabo stamps as fictitious is that the Sinus Emporicus 
(or merchants' bay) was a cave which admits the sea at 
high tide to the distance even of seven stadia (nearly 
three-quarters of a mile) , and in front of this bay was a 
low and level tract with an altar of Hercules upon it, 
which was not covered by the tide! So is another; that 
on other bays of the extreme northwest coasts of Africa, 
beyond the " Pillars of Hercules" (Straits of Gibraltar), 
there were ancient settlements of Tyrians, abandoned 
already in Strabo's time, which consisted of not less 
than three hundred cities, all of them destroyed by the 
Pharusii and the Nigritce. Yet, just a little later, this 



IO AFRICA TO-DAY 

same writer accepts without protest the statement that 
in certain rivers of Mauretania leeches are bred seven 
cubits (twelve feet!) in length, with gills pierced through 
with holes through which they respire. "This country 
is also said to produce a vine, the girth of which two 
men can scarcely compass, and bearing bunches of grapes 
about a cubit in size [length]." The Egyptian cubit is 
reckoned at 20.64 English inches; therefore these grapes 
of Mauretania would have compared not unfavourably 
with those of Eshcol, pictured in the illustrated Bible.* 
Strabo also quotes Iphicrates (or Hypsicrates, according 
to some commentators), whose statements he generally 
accepts, as declaring that in this same country there were 
large serpents, so old and huge that grass grew upon 
their backs even! But of the unknown regions beyond 
those districts, concerning which some information was 
to be had, Strabo wisely says practically nothing. He 
mentions, to be sure, the cave-dwellers (Troglodytes) and 
the lotus-eaters (Lotophagi) in a casual, half incredulous 
sort of way, but he invests them with none of the 
startling traits which are attributed to them by so many 
other writers of his day and by some who belong in what 
may almost be called modern times. 

We ought not to leave this subject of legendary Africa 
without a brief mention, at least, of the "Mountains of 
the Moon," which have, as Mr. E. H. Bunbury says,| 
proved a sad stumbling block to geographers in modern 
times. The very name itself suggests something quite 
out of the ordinary, something mythical and uncanny. 
The range was alleged, by Ptolemy especially, to stretch 
*See Numbers 13: 23. fSee Enc. Brit. 



THE AFRICA OF FABLE II 

from east to west almost entirely across the conti- 
nent at about the equator; dividing, in a most arbi- 
trary manner and by an almost unbroken line, the 
reasonably known parts of the continent from the 
absolutely unknown. The curious persistency of these 
" Mountains of the Moon" is alluded to again in 
Chapter II, " Africa as the Dark Continent and Its 
Emergence into Light." 

Although there is seemingly a strange break in the 
record of intercourse between the West and the East, 
that is to say between the extreme parts of southwestern 
Asia and the Mediterranean countries of Europe, with 
the remotest parts of the Asiatic continent and its adja- 
cent islands, the East Indies or "Spice Islands," from 
about the tenth century until the early years of the six- 
teenth, it was but natural that the Europeans should 
have felt the desirability — almost, one may say, the 
necessity — of an ocean route to remote Asia, which 
should be free from one seriously crippling phase, the 
Mediterranean and the Red Sea pirates, as well as the 
expensive and hazardous transhipment at or near the 
Isthmus of Suez. Equally natural was it that the Portu- 
guese should have been the first to make this attempt to 
reach Asia by sea, since that part of the world came 
within their bailiwick as defined by the famous papal 
bulls dividing the earth into two parts by an imaginary 
fine drawn north and south, west of the Azores, and 
granting all new lands east thereof to the Portuguese 
and west to the Spaniards. The great temptation, to 
comment jocosely upon the inevitable overlapping, be- 
cause the rotundity of the earth was even then coming 



12 AFRICA TO-DAY 

to be admitted by everyone, is resisted. The Portu- 
guese assumed the correctness of the theory that Africa 
was not a land stretching continuously down to the 
South Pole, but probably circumnavigable. 

It should be remembered that the Spanish peninsula 
took no part, nationally, in the Crusades for the 
attempted recovery of the Holy Land. Knowing how 
intensely loyal the Spaniards and Portuguese were to 
the Roman Catholic faith, and how eager was the Pope 
and his advisers to achieve the expulsion of the paynims 
from Palestine, especially that Jerusalem with its most 
sacred sites, relics, and treasures might be regained for 
the True Faith, this seeming apathy on the part of the 
Spanish and Portuguese strikes us as very strange. But 
the Spaniards were altogether too heavily burdened by 
their own effort to complete the expulsion of the Moors 
from their own country and to recover from the disas- 
trous effect of that expulsion upon their own economic 
conditions to think of sending any considerable body of 
troops abroad. Consequently Portugal took the lead 
of Spain in this effort to penetrate the Far East. It was 
the Portuguese who pushed down the west coast of 
Africa until, if possible, its southern extremity should 
be rounded and a way opened for their ships to reach the 
Indian Ocean and the whole of Asia's southern and 
eastern coasts. The fighting that the Portuguese had 
had with "The Sea-Wolves of the Mediterranean," the 
Barbary Corsairs, had given them much valuable train- 
ing, and it undoubtedly stimulated their effort to pass 
out into the Atlantic and then down the African coast, 
partly to be rid of these pests. More will be said of this 



THE AFRICA OF FABLE 13 

training in encounters with the Moorish pirates in Chap- 
ter XV, when we speak of America's relations with 
Africa, because the moving cause for our early intercourse 
was those Corsairs, and naturally it will be desirable to 
trace briefly their raison d'etre, their evolution, their 
frightful influence, and their extermination. 

In 13 1 7 and 135 1 certain Portuguese ships with Geno- 
ese pilots visited the Madeira and the Canary Islands, 
and even went as far as the Azores, a thousand miles 
out in the Atlantic — these groups of islands appear on 
Medici's map of 135 1. It should be borne in mind that 
a " pilot" in those days, and for some time later, was not 
precisely one whose ability was limited to a knowledge 
of safe channels; he was, in addition to that, a trained 
and expert navigator as well as being somewhat of 
a geographer. In 1377 occurred the accidental and 
most romantic visit of the Englishman, Robert Machin, 
to the Madeiras, but it is strange that this episode is 
not given in English histories, for we have to look into 
Portuguese literature for the best account of it. In 
1402 the Norman knight, Jean de Bethencourt, estab- 
lished a colony on the Canaries, and because aid and 
supplies had been given by the King of Castile, he 
yielded homage to the Spanish monarch. The African 
coast as far as Cape Non had been explored in a rough 
and ready sort of a way in the thirteenth century, the 
name being given because it seemed as if the point said 
"No" to wistful mariners, who were deterred from push- 
ing past it by the fear of intense heat, the rotundity of 
the earth, and other causes operating to invest explora- 
tion with all manner of dread. However, the cape was 



14 AFRICA TO-DAY 

passed in the following century, and slowly, step by step 
as it were, those Portuguese adventurers made their 
way down the coast and crossed the equator, thus doing 
away with the dread of the impassable hot zone. And 
yet when Prince Henry of Portugal, "The Navigator," 
died in 1463, these newer discoverers had actually gone 
no farther than had Hanno two thousand years before; 
for between 570 to 470 B.C. Hanno had made a voyage 
out into the Atlantic, passed down the coast of Maure- 
tania, and established seven small stations as far to the 
southward as Kerne, at the mouth of the Rio d' Oro, 
which existed for a considerable time. From the extreme 
southernmost of these he made two voyages of explora- 
tion, the second one going as far as Sierra Leone and 
the neighbouring Sherboro Island, where he found "wild 
men and women covered with hair, called by the 
interpreters, l gorillas. '" But very near to the end of 
the fifteenth century Bartholomew Diaz, when some 
four hundred miles south of the Tropic of Capricorn, was 
driven due south by a storm for thirteen days into a 
region of frightful waves and turbulence that well-nigh 
prostrated his seamen; then, with moderating weather, 
he shaped his course towards the east and slowly hauled 
up towards the north, until he made the coast to the 
west of him and reached the land at the mouth of the 
Gouritz River, over two hundred miles east of the Cape 
of Good Hope. He had rounded Africa and got into the 
Indian Ocean, although for a time he did not realise 
what he had done. Retracing his course, he doubled 
the point to which he gave the name "Stormy Cape," 
but King John II of Portugal promptly changed this 



THE AFRICA OF FABLE 15 

to Cape of Good Hope as soon as he comprehended the 
great importance of the event.* 

This circumnavigating of Africa had been one of the 
topics that aroused the fiercest sort of controversy 
amongst scholars and navigators from the earliest times, 
and the Greek and Latin writers quoted by Europeans 
in the Middle Ages were arrayed into two strenuously 
opposed factions. It is strange, although this is of 
course the expression of an opinion based upon knowledge 
after the event, that the Homeric notion of an ocean 
entirely surrounding the terrestrial world, the flat one 
then conceived, should have survived so persistently 
and for long after the globular form of the earth had come 
to be maintained by most geographers. The greatest 
of them, Erastosthenes, correctly assumed that the 
Indian Ocean was actually connected with the Atlantic 
at some point far to the south, very vaguely surmised, 
however, and hence he and others of his way of thinking, 
such as Posidonius and Strabo, contended for the circum- 
navigability of the African continent. There is neither 
opportunity nor necessity for discussing the interesting 
stories, decidedly apocryphal as they are, of the actual 
accomplishing of this feat in times long preceding the 
voyage of Bartholomew Diaz; as, for example, the story 
told by Herodotus of the Phoenician squadron which, 
during the reign of Necho in Egypt, 610 to 595 B.C., 
sailed quite round Africa and reappeared in the Red 
Sea. It is right, however, to mention, without details, 

* Some accounts of Diaz's performance state that he deliberately 
steered south, east, and north, and would have gone farther up the 
east coast of Africa, had not his sailors almost mutinied and compelled 
him to turn back. 



l6 AFRICA TO-DAY 

Erastosthenes' strange blunder about the Caspian Sea 
being a huge gulf connected with the Baltic (and North) 
Sea by a long, circuitous channel which afforded another 
route to the Atlantic and thence round the world. We 
should naturally assume such a geographer as he to be 
possessed of sufficient information to prevent his mistak- 
ing the Volga River for a salt-water channel, but such 
he apparently did. In a certain way, however, this 
blunder finds parallels in mistakes made by very recent 
geographers as to physical conditions in Africa — some 
of which will be mentioned in subsequent chapters. We 
must here note again the extraordinary way in which 
Ptolemy, usually reckoned to be a master of his craft, 
came to grief in his speculations as to the form of the 
African continent. This he contended extended south- 
ward until it reached the South Pole; that the continent 
of Asia likewise swept down from eastward of Farther 
India until it, too, joined the Antarctic continent; thus 
making the Indian Ocean a completely landlocked body 
of salt water. We must not omit mention of the fact 
that Antonio Goncalves, in 1442, brought back to Portu- 
gal gold and negro slaves from the Rio d' Oro country, 
four hundred miles beyond Cape Bojador (26 06' 57" N. 
lat.), and that this was the beginning of the African slave 
trade — a subject which will engage our attention later. 



CHAPTER II 

AFRICA AS THE DARK CONTINENT AND ITS 
EMERGENCE INTO LIGHT. MISSIONARY 
ENTERPRISES BRIEFLY TOUCHED UPON 

IT seems a long while ago, as we look backward now, 
to the time when Henry M. Stanley published his 
interesting account of his quest for the German governor 
of Equatoria (1890), Edouard Schnitzer, Em in Pasha, 
and he told of the rescue of what was left of Emin's 
little band, and of their successful retreat. It strikes the 
reader now with singular force that the measure of appre- 
ciation shown by the rescued governor, the almost child- 
ish objections he made to being saved, and the difficulties 
he needlessly put in Stanley's way, hardly justified the 
great expense incurred and the terrible anxiety and 
suffering of those who took part in the mission of succour; 
but this may be declared heartless. Yet Stanley, only 
a little more than twenty years ago, gave his book the 
title "In Darkest Africa," and if we compare his sketch 
map in that volume with the one which he inserted in 
his previous work, "How I Found Livingstone," published 
in 1871-72, and also study another map in a little volume 
entitled "Narrative of Discovery and Adventure in 
Africa from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time";* 
reading, in connection with these other books, the account 

* Edinburgh Cabinet Library, 1830. 
17 



l8 AFRICA TO-DAY 

given by Major Denham, who expressed himself as 
having "almost full assurance of reaching those depths 
of Africa from which no European has ever yet returned" ; 
and last, when we read Mungo Park's book and study 
his routes, taken a little before and just at the turn from 
the eighteenth century into the nineteenth, we are com- 
pelled to admit that barely a score of years ago Africa 
was still not at all inaccurately described as "The Dark 
Continent," and it is not until the opening of this twen- 
tieth century that the emergence into the light began to 
assume satisfactory conditions in fact. By this state- 
ment we do not mean that there had not been wonder- 
ful development accomplished in many parts of Africa 
before the end of the nineteenth century; it is only 
when we regard carefully the tremendous area of the 
great continent and think of the narrow fringe of civili- 
sation along the east and west coasts, the old civilisation 
of the Egyptian inset along the Nile, and the newer one 
which has pushed northward from the Cape of Good 
Hope, that we realise properly how meagre, after all, 
had been the "emergence into light." 

The chronological series of small maps of Africa, 
reproduced in "In Darkest Africa," beginning with that 
of Hekataeus, 500 B.C., and coming down well into the 
nineteenth century, gives us a most emphatic demonstra- 
tion of how very slow was the opening up of the great 
continent, Africa, into that light which permitted of 
even a rough comparison with, let us say, Asia. And 
in 1819, when the "Mountains of the Moon" still 
appeared on the maps given in school atlases and the 
"Sources of the Nile" were placed at "somewhere 




Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. 

Blacks from the Equatorial Plains Climbing a Mountain 

The natives are wrapped in blankets for protection against the 

unaccustomed cold. The peak in the distance is 18,000 feet high 



AFRICA AS THE DARK CONTINENT 19 

between io° north and 20 south latitude" (a margin 
of over two thousand statute miles, which excites a 
smile!), conditions were but little better. In this view of 
the case we may safely say that until very modern times 
our knowledge of Africa was far from satisfactory. As 
recently, comparatively, as 1747 — at which date our 
knowledge of Asia was fairly satisfactory — an English 
writer* said: "The far greater Part [of Africa] continues 
still unknown to us, and the Ancients knew still less, 
who looked upon it as desart and uninhabitable. And 
though we are since become better acquainted with it, 
yet our Knowledge of it extends little farther than the 
Regions that He along the Coasts, especially those along 
the Mediterranean; which being the most fruitful in 
Corn and other Products, and more easy of Access, 
have been more constantly resorted to both by Euro- 
peans and Asiatics. As for the Midland Parts, as they 
were for a long while believed inaccessible and uninhabited, 
by reason of their intolerable Heat, they lying mostly 
under the Torrid Zone, they have on that very Account 
as well as the Savageness of its [their] Inhabitants, been 
little Visited by any Strangers. Even the Southern 
Parts of it, which He under a more temperate Climate, 
and are much easier of Access, are found inhabited by 
such barbarous People, so fierce and savage in their 
Nature, so uncouth and forbidding in their Manners 
and Language, so shy of [in] aU Intercourse with foreign 
Nations, that our Readers need not wonder at our being 

*"A Complete System of Geography: Being a Description of all 
the Continents, Islands, Countries, Chief Towns, Harbours, Lakes and 
Rivers, Mountains, Mines, etc., of the Known World." Emanuel Brown, 
Geographer to His Majesty. 



20 AFRICA TO-DAY 

almost as much in the Dark about them as we are about 
Midlands [Central Africa.] " 

When we speak of Africa's emergence from darkness 
into light, we are, of course, using the words in a strictly 
modern sense as connoting European progress. There 
is no intention to disparage the civilisation which was to 
have been seen in Egypt thousands of years ago; nor is 
it meant to ignore the fact that even the influence of the 
Arabs along the Mediterranean shores (unsatisfactory 
as it was when measured by European standards for 
several hundred years past) was decidedly an advance 
upon what they had originally found there. Of the 
Phoenician, Greek, and Roman civilisation, it would be 
an impertinence to allude to it as in any way similar to 
conditions existing in Africa among the aboriginal peoples 
and tribes of savages. 

In discussing the efforts of Europeans to explore, 
colonise, and develop the Dark Continent, we should — 
at least so it seems to us — begin with the time when they 
really commenced to have serious aspirations in those 
matters. Something has already been said of Portu- 
guese progress along the west coast; but we must now 
give a little attention to a most important episode in 
European history which had grave and almost disastrous 
bearing upon African development — that is, the expulsion 
of the Moors from Spain in the latter part of the fifteenth 
century. When the conquest of Granada brought about 
the final downfall of Moorish supremacy in Castile, 
the attitude of the victorious Spaniards was at first 
fairly lenient towards the Moors; the latter were prom- 
ised security in their material possessions and entire 



AFRICA AS THE DARK CONTINENT 21 

freedom in the practice of their religion, providing 
always that nothing was done which might be construed 
as offensive to the Christian faith. But this indulgence 
was soon displaced by harshness, and the Moors were 
compelled to make choice between apostacising or ban- 
ishment. Many of them chose the former alternative 
and made profession of the Christian faith; but even 
their apparent subscribing to the Roman Catholic doc- 
trine did not relieve them from severity, because the 
sincerity of their conversion was always impugned, and 
the life of the Moriscoes (as those Moors were called 
who remained in Spain) became almost unendurable: 
yet so strong is the human instinct to protect material 
interests that many continued to submit to indignities 
and actual persecution rather than give up their property. 
Those who accepted banishment and held to the faith 
of Islam now turned their hands against all Christians, 
regardless of nationality, and speedily developed capacity 
to make the lives of Europeans along all the northern 
Mediterranean shores, from the Dardanelles to Gibraltar, 
one constant dream of horror. The act of the Spaniards 
in driving out the Moors resulted in national as well as 
individual loss amounting almost to destruction, and it 
was one of the most fatal mistakes recorded in history. 
The Portuguese, blocked in their pathway towards 
the East by the Moorish pirates and by the Turkish 
domination of the Levant, turned their attention to 
parts of Africa beyond the spheres of influence of Moor 
and Turk. It cannot truthfully be said that the Portu- 
guese had at that time any serious plans for colonising 
Western Africa. What little they did in this way along 



22 AFRICA TO-DAY 

those coasts was merely incidental: and whatever they 
did was rarely, if ever, to the credit of Christians, or 
indeed of human beings. As John Fiske and others tell 
us, there were most unholy deeds wrought by those men 
who, having suffered more or less from the bitter, merci- 
less crusades of the Barbary Corsairs, themselves turned 
freebooters, and wherever they landed they left behind 
them an unsavoury reputation for expropriation of 
property and kidnapping of men, women, and children 
to sell them into slavery but little better than that which 
their own countrymen endured from Moorish captors. 
Innumerable deeds were committed by these Portuguese 
adventurers which should have been requited with 
condign punishment, only there was no one to inflict it. 
They were a law unto themselves, and for many years 
the story of the West Coast of Africa is one of violence 
which should have brought the perpetrators to the 
gallows. Much as there is to admire in the bravery of 
those Portuguese sailors in pushing down into unknown 
seas, it is almost negatived by their acts towards their 
fellowmen, blacks though they were, on land and on sea. 
Were this the only tale to narrate of Africa's earliest 
sign of emergence from darkness into light, it would be 
wiser to leave it untold here. But there is a better one, 
and it redounds to the credit of men and women who 
sought to uplift the natives of Africa. First, however, 
it must be admitted that the earliest efforts of commer- 
cial men from other nations of Europe than Spain or 
Portugal were not always — indeed were not often — 
along the ideal pathway of Christian civilisation: the 
temptation to practise unfairly upon the ignorance of 



AFRICA AS THE DARK CONTINENT 23 

the heathen natives was almost irresistible, and the 
pioneers of trade were all too frequently actuated by 
most sordid motives only. 

Still, we detect rays of light almost synchronous with 
those evil deeds. In 152 1 Manoel, King of Portugal, 
sent a Jesuit priest, one Quadra, to the Kongo and 
instructed him to cross overland to Abyssinia, where it 
was known there were evidences of the survival of a 
primitive form of Christianity. In 1526 and 1537 two 
others, Jesuits probably, Castro and Pacheco, had pro- 
posed a similar journey; while in 1546 King John III of 
Portugal, he who introduced the Inquisition into his 
domains about 1526, had recommended the Portuguese 
missionaries, then already in Abyssinia in considerable 
numbers, to try to push their way westward across the 
continent to the mouth of the Kongo. In that great, 
interesting, and most instructive series entitled " Jesuit 
Travels," there is a statement of a missionary, a Jesuit, 
of course, who crossed Africa at some time between 1550 
and 1560 and endeavoured, to the best of his linguistic 
ability, to teach the natives something of the Christian 
religion. In 1553 was despatched the first regularly 
organised Jesuit mission to Africa, and in 1592 Breto, 
one of the successors in this enterprise, advocated and 
attempted, although he was not successful, a chain of 
mission stations right across Africa from the east to the 
west coasts. One of those Jesuit missionaries to Abys- 
sinia, Father Paez, claimed to have been the first to 
discover the actual source of the River Nile, redis- 
covered one hundred and seventy years later, in 1770, 
by the Scotchman James Bruce, of whom it is said 



24 AFRICA TO-DAY 

"he will always remain the poet, and his work, Travels 
to Discover the Sources of the Nile, the epic of African 
travel." It may be interpolated here that Bruce and 
William D. Cooley, the English geographer (died 1883), 
deny the correctness of Paez's claim and contend that he 
was merely the first to describe a portion of Central 
Africa which other Portuguese sojourners in Abyssinia 
had visited about 1595, but without asserting discovery 
of the actual headwaters of the Nile. Bruce's discovery 
was of the Blue Nile source. 

In 1606 one Araglis made a journey, combining explora- 
tion with an attempt at Christian propaganda, of some 
four hundred miles into the interior from the coast of the 
Angola territory on the west of Africa. Half a century 
later, in 1663, Godinho, another missionary, recom- 
mended the establishing of an overland route, with 
mission stations at regular intervals; and Jaine, another 
Jesuit, stated that, according to reliable information he 
had obtained, there was nothing to prevent travellers, 
on peaceful mission bent, from going from the northern 
Zambesi Country, on the east coast, right across the 
continent to Angola. The Jesuits actually penetrated 
from the Toka (Batoka) Plateau, north of the Zambesi 
River, into the present Rutsi Country above Victoria 
Falls. From the mouth of the Zambesi to that of the 
Kunene, in what is now German Southwest Africa, is 
quite half the distance across the continent in a straight 
line. In 1798 Francisco Jose de Lacerde e Almeida, who 
was sent to explore the Mozambique Country, where 
he died of malarial fever, opened up some eight hundred 
square miles of new country between Mozambique and 




Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. 

Victoria Falls, Middle Zambesi River, Rhodesia 

The regatta course above the Falls, where aquatic sports are much in 

Javour among the English residents 



AFRICA AS THE DARK CONTINENT 25 

the southeastern lakes of the Lualaba district (Kongo 
Free State). Lacerda was accompanied by a Roman 
Catholic chaplain. So that, between 1500 and 1800, at 
least one missionary was among those who crossed Africa 
and actually anticipated Livingstone in this hazardous 
enterprise. 

Without burdening the reader with further details 
(interesting though they are) of pioneer journeys into 
the heart of Africa undertaken by representatives of 
the Roman Catholic Church during the sixteenth and 
seventeenth centuries, their work on the Sudan Nile 
between 1848 and 1863 deserves brief mention. In 1849 
Ignaz Knoblecher, at that time the head of an Austrian 
mission, undertook what was really an exploring tour in 
the cause of Christian propaganda. During this journey 
up the Nile from Khartum to Gondokoro (Equatorial 
Province) the Jesuit reached the Rejaf Hill (Logwek) 
4 45' N. and was the first European to ascend it. Six 
years later Beltrame, another missionary, travelled up 
the Blue Nile to Rosieres. Duryak, Gossner, Kauf- 
mann, Kirchner, Morlang, Mosgau, and Vines were 
also Jesuit explorers as well as evangelists, and to them 
subsequent travellers who worked as specialists were 
greatly indebted. The accounts they gave of research 
in geography, meteorological observations, ethnograph- 
ical and linguistic studies greatly expanded the knowl- 
edge of Nile lands and peoples. August Petermann 
(died 1878), the eminent German geographer, admitted 
that Duryak and Knoblecher "kept an accurate hygro- 
metrical and meteorological register with great precision 
and scientific regularity." In 1878 Massaia, by reason 



26 AFRICA TO-DAY 

of his influence with Menelik, king of Abyssinia, ob- 
tained permission for Antinosi, an Italian explorer, to 
establish a scientific station on the royal estate. In 
1880, Duparquet made a journey from Wamsch Bay, 
German South West Africa, to Omaruru and thence 
to the Ovampo district between the Kunene and the 
Okavanga rivers. In 1884 Ohrwalder, an Austrian 
Jesuit, escaped from the Mahdists and brought out 
news of what was taking place in the Sudan during 
the dark days following its prolonged closure to the 
outside world. This information, confirmed and empha- 
sised by that furnished later by Alexander Murdock 
Mackay, first mechanical engineer and afterwards 
Protestant missionary, led to the despatch of the relief 
expedition, headed by Stanley, to which reference has 
already been made. We may safely say that practically 
all Roman Catholic missionaries in Africa were explorers, 
and that a good many of them were in the field before 
Livingstone. 

Turning back, in the matter of time, in order to take 
up the consideration of Protestant missionary effort as 
contributing greatly towards Africa's emergence into 
light, we mid that as long ago as 1661 two members of 
the Quaker fraternity arrived at Alexandria and began 
preaching to the Copts and the Moslems with, it is said, 
some slight measure of success. But it must be admitted 
that there was not conspicuous zeal displayed by Prot- 
estants during the rest of the seventeenth and almost all 
of the eighteenth centuries. This does not mean that 
there was no effort made, but that it was desultory, and 
precise information cannot be had without research, 



AFRICA AS THE DARK CONTINENT 27 

which is not expedient. It is to be assumed that the 
Dutch colonists in South Africa were accompanied by 
clergymen, and that these did something, at least, among 
the natives; but it was very near the end of the eigh- 
teenth century, 1792, that English missionaries entered 
Cape Colony. They crossed the Orange River in 1801 
and entered the Chivana Country. In 181 2 Campbell, 
of the London Society, determined the course of the 
Orange River, and in 1820 he, with Moffat, discovered 
the source of the Limpopo River and explored a good 
part of the region traversed by that stream. Early in 
the nineteenth century there were considerable numbers 
of Protestant missionaries in the field and their success 
was measured by the numerous converts, but the deadly 
climate prevented the prosecution of the work zealously, 
and until 1887 the Gold Coast was practically the only 
field in the west of Africa. In Central, Eastern, North 
Eastern, and West Africa Dr. Nassau explored the 
reaches of the Ogowai River, which were unknown until 
then. A little later, Grenfell of the British Baptist 
Mission, discovered the Mobangi, the greatest tributary 
of the Kongo. In 1855 Erhard and Rebmann made a 
map of East Africa between the equator and 14 south 
latitude and for about sixteen degrees inland from 
Zanzibar. The information given and the size attrib- 
uted to the lakes induced the Royal Geographical 
Society to equip Burton for his great and successful 
expedition. In 1877 t ne Young Men's Missionary 
Society of Birmingham, England, entered the African 
mission field and spread Christianity widely throughout 
Natal. Before Stanley had completed his first descent 



28 APRICA TO-DAY 

of the Kongo, Tilly, a director of the English Calvinist 
Baptists, had invited the East London Institute for 
Missions to join in sending men abroad; so that prior 
to Stanley's reaching Europe, 1878, missionaries were 
on their way to Central Africa. This was the origin of 
the Livingstone Mission. It was the intention to form 
a chain of mission stations from the West Coast far into 
the interior ; these were to be self-supporting. But the 
plan was found to be impracticable ; no European could 
safely engage in the necessary manual labour, and trade 
was quite out of the question because the natives would 
have misconstrued the motive and thought the mis- 
sionaries were seeking their own interests in the profits. 
It may be noted here, although it is rather parenthetical, 
that Bishop Colenso, Natal, for a time entertained differ- 
ent views as to the method best to follow in Christian 
propaganda. His predecessors had advocated the plan 
of first Christianise and then civilise ; he tried the other 
order, but speedily confessed it was a failure. The ques- 
tion naturally occurs to the average lay observer, why 
not let the two things go on together, hand in hand ? 
David Livingstone, born at Blantyre near Glasgow, 
Scotland, March 19, 18 13, died at Chitambo, Central 
Africa, April 30, 1873, travelled twenty-nine thousand 
miles in Africa, practically all of it on foot, and added 
one million square miles to the known areas, or about 
one-twelfth of the total continent. He discovered Lake 
Ngami in 1849 &- now lies within British South Africa's 
sphere of influence); in 185 1 the Zambesi River in the 
middle of the continent, and determined its course to the 
Indian Ocean; in 1856 the Victoria Falls; in 1859 two 



AFRICA AS THE DARK CONTINENT 20, 

longitudinal ridges flanking the great Southern-Central 
African Valley, ascended the Shire River, by way of 
Murchison Cataracts and Lake Shirwa. His so-called 
rediscovery of Lake Nyasa was virtually an original one, 
since its reputed position was inaccurate. Although ill 
at the time, he fixed the true orientation of Lake Tan- 
ganyika, and was the first European to traverse its 
length. In 1867 he discovered Lake Mweru (Moero); 
in 1868 Lake Bangiweolo, the Lualaba stem of the 
Kongo River, opened up the Nyema (Manyema) Country, 
and, supported by Stanley, showed that Lake Tangan- 
yika did not empty northward and therefore could not 
feed the Nile. Stanley said of Livingstone: "In the 
annals of exploration of the dark continent, we look in 
vain among other nationalities for such a name as 
Livingstone's. He stands pre-eminent above all; he 
unites the best qualities of other explorers : the method- 
ical perseverance of Barth, Moffat's philo-Africanism, 
Rohlf's enterprising spirit, Duveyrier's fondness for 
geographical minutiae, Burton's literal accuracy, 
Speke's cheery simplicity and seductive bonhommie; 
he is a rare human mosaic, a glory to Britain. But to 
Burton, Germany can show Barth and France Duveyrier, 
and to Speke, the first can show Rohlf and the latter 
Caille; to Cameron, Germany can oppose Nachtegal and 
to Baker Schweinfurth, though two greater opposites 
can scarcely be imagined; and France can boast of 
Compeigne and Brazza (the Italian). But Britain, after 
producing Bruce, Clapperton, Denham, the Landers, and 
Park excelled even herself when she produced the strong 
and perseverant Scotchman." There are several most 



30 AFRICA TO-DAY 

admirable traits with which we justly credit Livingstone : 
first, with being a real missionary; second, with reclaim- 
ing South-Central Africa from barbarism and sin; and 
third, with doing a noble work in contributing towards 
the suppression of the slave trade. 

Thus it becomes manifest that a major share of 
Africa's emergence from darkness into light is attrib- 
utable directly to missionary effort, and that what was 
feebly begun centuries ago and revivified in the last one, 
is marching on hand in hand with material civilisation. 
Naturally, an acquaintance with the language of the 
strange people among whom they are working is of 
more importance to the missionary than it is to the 
merchant, yet equal with the needs of a competent 
diplomat or consul. Hence we find the missionaries 
in Africa, as in all other parts of the world, using their 
command of language for (i) Propaganda, (2) Philology, 
(3) Natural Sciences, (4) Arts, Industries, and Com- 
merce, (5) Advantages to be conferred by colonisation, 
commerce, and civilisation, (6) Peace! Schweinfurth 
says that American missionaries "have done an enormous 
amount of good." Gordon in the Sudan said that no 
permanent amelioration of conditions there could possibly 
be accomplished without the aid of Christian mission- 
aries. Schnitzer (Emin Pasha) requested the co-opera- 
tion of missionaries for the Equatorial Province and 
would have defrayed their entire expenses had there 
been difficulty on this score for the home boards. O'Neill, 
British Consul to Mozambique, after ten years' experi- 
ence, spoke of missionaries as contributing much to the 
pacification of the country and greatly furthering the 



AFRICA AS THE DARK CONTINENT 31 

suppression of the slave trade. Layard said the same 
thing. Mailland, Governor of Cape Colony (1844-47), 
told the British Government that more depended upon 
the labours of missionaries than on rifles and soldiers 
in keeping the savages quiet. Groat, an American 
Congregational missionary who had been working suc- 
cessfully among the Zulus, was about to return home 
because his Society had decided to withdraw from the 
field; but Mailland sent him back at his own expense. 
The good work done in Algiers by the French Roman 
Catholic bishop, Lavigerie, is praised by all and has 
gained words of hearty appreciation from military men 
and civilians of all nations and creeds. 

In Africa, as in every part of the world, history repeats 
itself, even if sometimes the order of procedure varies a 
little. Sometimes it is the trader who is the absolute 
pioneer ; in which case the later effort of the missionary 
is likely to be all the harder — and so it was in most of 
Africa. But there was no satisfying evidence of the 
breaking away of darkness until there came those who 
brought the message from God and also tried to put away 
the love of strife, so that there might be something of 
civilisation in its highest plane. Gradually, throughout 
the great continent it is becoming more and more 
evident that it is not the most military nation which 
leads the van, but that this post is held by those who 
strive for peaceful progress.* 

* A good deal of information in this chapter was derived from " The 
Redemption of Africa," Frederick Perry Noble. The interested reader 
who desires further data and precise statistics is heartily referred to 
that book. I have supplemented Mr. Noble's statements with facts 
gained from my own observation. — J. K. G. 



CHAPTER III 

NORTHERN AFRICA 

BY the term Northern Africa, a very indefinite one 
at best, we shall mean all of the continent north 
of the southern limit of the Sahara and a line extended 
eastward to include the Egyptian Sudan and reaching 
the Red Sea at about 2 2° north latitude, but excluding 
Abyssinia and the Italian colony of Eritrea, which we 
shall consider under the title of East Africa. Just south 
of this Northern Africa comes what we call Central 
Africa, but on the Atlantic coast it falls under our 
division of West Africa. Now the Sahara is such an 
important and interesting part of this continent that it 
deserves a chapter to itself; and as for Egypt, it would 
be impossible to do justice to that great and absorbingly 
interesting section of Northern Africa within the limits 
of this chapter without neglecting everything else; 
therefore it, too, is excluded here. Consequently we 
shall restrict ourselves in this chapter to a consideration 
of the four countries the names of which school children 
were formerly allowed to rattle off so glibly as almost 
to be rhythmical; namely, Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, 
and Tripoli. That is, the very narrow fringe along the 
Mediterranean littoral; although Morocco does stretch 
for a long distance down the Atlantic coast and Tripoli 
pushes itself quite halfway across the Sahara. In 

32 



NORTHERN AFRICA 33 

general terms it is the great, old headquarters in Africa 
of the Islam faith, and from it went out into the desert 
and across it into the very heart of the Dark Continent 
missionaries in such numbers, and whose success was so 
remarkable, that far down towards Southern Africa 
the earliest European travellers found Mussulmans 
who were even stricter, in the rigid observance of the 
faith, than were those who lived nearer the earthly gate 
to Paradise, Mecca. 

Within the past two years much anxious attention 
has been given to Morocco and there were, within a few 
months, very disquieting signs of trouble, in that part 
of Africa, which might involve several European nations 
in actual war. But while this chapter is being written 
the indications point to adjustment without recourse to 
arms, and French supremacy appears to be established 
in Morocco. Still, the episode of June and July, 191 1, is 
so typical of what may happen at almost any time in a 
Moorish country, and its repetition may so easily involve 
European nations, that it is worth while giving it some 
attention; for it really represents one phase of Africa 
To-day as nothing else can do. 

Just what portion of the French Kongo will be ceded 
to Germany as compensation for withdrawing from 
Morocco and promising to keep hands off, had not been 
officially announced, but it was assumed to be of value 
to the latter country's already acquired rights in the 
Kamerun region; in return France is to be allowed a free 
hand in Morocco. If by this "free hand" was meant 
that the administration of affairs is to be taken up by the 
French — a Protectorate, in other words — it can hardly 



34 AFRICA TO-DAY 

be that the task is going to prove an easy one. The seem- 
ing intention of the French Government to uphold the 
authority of Sultan Mulai Hand and his Vizier Glawi 
does not exactly satisfy our ideas of doing that which 
is for the best interest of the whole country and all the 
peoples. While apparently the recent uprising was 
directed solely at the Sultan and his immediate friends 
who are declared to have given themselves up to robbery, 
" until there is now nothing left to rob," to have com- 
mitted the most indecent assaults upon women every- 
where, and to have brought slavery and misery on all 
sides, yet the attitude of the tribesmen was not hostile 
to Europeans — the rebellion was against the Sultan and 
his Vizier. 

But we know too well that when such a revolt is 
once started in a Moslem country, religious fanaticism 
at once asserts itself and the fate of Christians who fall 
into the hands of the turbulent natives is rarely anything 
but that which means death for the men and worse than 
death for the women. In the effort to restore and 
maintain order, perhaps France was right in insisting 
that the authority of the (alleged) legitimate successor 
to the throne should be upheld, and therefore the relief 
expedition was justified in acting as it did in Mulai 
Hand's behalf. Of its humanitarian motive there can 
be but one opinion : Europeans — Christians — were in 
danger and they had to be saved, if possible. No one 
would for a moment belittle the successful effort of 
that expedition to relieve the few strangers who were 
shut up in Fez last summer. 

But the motive for the relief expedition was greatly 



NORTHERN AFRICA 35 

misunderstood by the natives, and it is certain that 
the conduct of the French troops, after they reached 
Fez, left something to be desired and which did not 
tend to correct entirely the misunderstanding among 
the rebellious natives. In June, 1911, we read of out- 
rages committed by the Fez garrison and of remorseless 
reprisals made upon neighbouring villages as soon as 
the siege was raised. Mulai Hand had sent his own 
troops, under the command of French officers, and these 
committed wholesale destruction of life, expropriation of 
property, and nameless assaults, until stopped by 
General Moinier as soon as he understood what was 
being done. It is hardly to be wondered that the 
Moors felt resentment at the arrival of an infidel army 
which lent itself — even if but for a short time — to the 
designs of their hated officials. Of course Mulai Hand 
and his immediate advisers denied stoutly all possibility 
of there being a savage re-estabhshment of the Sultan's 
power; yet their acts were totally opposed to the spirit 
in which France sent succour and in which General 
Moinier conducted the relief operations. 

The feeling . of all the natives who are opposed to 
Mulai Hand, and information justifies the statement 
that numerically they are in the majority (although 
this is not a case wherein majority rules!), was admi- 
rably expressed in a letter from Akka Duimeni, chief 
of the Beni M'Tir tribe and leader of the Berber rebel- 
lion, extracts from which were printed in the London 
Times of May 12, 191 1 (weekly edition). This chief is 
known to be not in the least anti-European and not 
ultra-fanatical in religion. After some general state- 



2)6 AFRICA TO-DAY 

ments as to the motive of the rebellion and the feelings of 
the people towards the Sultan, the Vizier, and the court 
favourites (and what has already been stated in this 
chapter gives an idea of these sentiments) he said: ' We 
discovered that Europeans had no pity; but we still 
looked for justice. What have we found? The Sultan 
and the Maghzen, who rob wholesale to leave us to die 
of starvation, and who have brought the whole country 
to misery, are assisted and defended; but two wretched 
soldiers who stole a pack-horse and, fearing the results, 
deserted — what happened to them less than three 
months ago in Fez? The Europeans intervened and 
they were shot publicly in the presence of the troops. 
What law of God, what justice of man, can justify 
that? What can we do now but die? It is all that is left 
to us. We know we cannot resist the French troops for 
long, but none the less can we permit them to invade 
the country. We will not surrender; we will not cease 
from [asserting] our cause and fighting for what we know 
to be our rights, so long as Mulai Hand remains Sultan 
and Glawi his Vizier. Under any other Sovereign we 
will disperse in peace and accept all international agree- 
ments, but this man and his Vizier have oppressed us 
too rigorously. The blood of our slain, the cries of our 
children call us to avenge them, — the blood of our slain 
and other blood! But a few weeks ago three little girls 
from one of the tribes went to Fez to appeal for their 
father's liberty. When they arrived he was already dead. 
They were brutally violated by the Palace attendants 
and sent home. Had it not been for European assist- 
ance [extended to our oppressor], peace would have 



NORTHERN AFRICA 37 

reigned months ago and a new Sultan would be on 
the throne. You know now to what purpose Europe's 
assistance is put, and it will be her everlasting disgrace 
that she has consented to and connived at the prolonga- 
tion of this period." The letter concludes with these 
words: "By the service I once rendered you, by our 
friendship which has never ceased, and in the name of the 
God of mercy and justice, and in the name of our people, 
whom you know and love, I call upon you to make 
known my message." 

Following quickly upon France's action in sending 
troops into Morocco came Germany's in sending a war- 
ship to Agadir, an open roadstead moderately protected 
by headlands and five hundred miles south of the Straits 
of Gibraltar. Germany's contention was that the possi- 
ble occupation of Morocco by France was a breach of 
the Algeciras Act and restored to all Powers signatory to 
that Act freedom of action. There were German firms 
interested south of Morocco, and if Agadir were opened 
it would be a natural outlet of the Sus district. It 
seemed for a time as if the five European Powers, — 
France, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, and Russia as 
the ally of France, — would be required to enter into 
further negotiations to restore peace in Morocco; and if 
this necessity was evaded, nevertheless conditions indicate 
something of what is to be seen in at least one part of 
Africa To-day and no one will say they are satisfactory. 

The French Government had decided to re-enforce 
the French troops at Casablanca (Dar-el-Beida, about 
midway between the Straits of Gibraltar and Agadir), 
and drew up an agreement with the Maghzen for the 



38 AFRICA TO-DAY 

purpose of supplying the Sultan with financial means to 
establish a serviceable army of five thousand troops, 
to be drilled and commanded by French officers, and to 
assist in the upkeep of the palace. There was to be an 
issue of two successive loans through the agency of the 
Morocco State Bank. France intimated to the Shereefian 
(the chief magistrates) her willingness to renounce tem- 
porarily the annual installments of the war indemnity 
due her. It is hardly surprising that all of this was con- 
strued by Germany as inimical to her position; nor is it 
astonishing that Great Britain threw her influence into 
the scale with France, because the total maritime trade 
of Morocco for the year 1909 (the latest for which 
statistics are readily available) amounted to £4,600,000, 
an increase of £800,000 over the previous year: but 
Great Britain's share in this trade increased propor- 
tionately more than did that of any other European 
Power. France showed an increase of £90,000, Great 
Britain £430,000. 

This extreme northern strip of Africa has been most 
appropriately called "The Land of Winter Sunbeams," 
and it is yearly attracting more travellers who seek for 
mildness of climate, picturesque scenery, and variety 
with opportunity of seeing something of a civilisation 
that is still strange, although it is fast becoming Euro- 
peanised and commonplace. Or, if there is a desire to 
combine with much of indolence a little of energetic 
activity, in the form of mountain climbing, there is the 
Atlas range, that attains its greatest height in Morocco 
and stretches off to the east, gradually becoming lower 
and lower until it runs out to nothing in the extreme 




Photo. Underwood b° Underwood, N. Y. 

The Palace at Fez 

The Sultan arriving to receive the tribes at a jeast 



NORTHERN AFRICA 39 

northeast of Tunis. There yet remain some very toler- 
able peaks to be conquered, some of them between 
thirteen and fourteen thousand feet in elevation, possibly 
more; but the attempt to reach those summits is still 
attended with risk because of the turbulent natives, as 
fond of backsheesh as are the Corsican brigands of ransom, 
and because these mountains are infested with danger- 
ous wild beasts. These things must make the would-be 
mountain climber give careful heed to his plans ere he 
ventures. 

It is more consistent with our own ideas to limit 
the Atlas range to the chain which begins in the ex- 
treme southwest of Morocco, back of Cape Non, that 
so long said "thus far and no farther" to the early 
Portuguese adventurers, and extends to Tunis, excluding 
the lower hills which are sometimes included in the Atlas 
range and go on into Tripoli. These true Atlas moun- 
tains, except the tops of the highest peaks, are generally 
well covered with forests, pine, oak, cork, white poplar, 
walnut, chestnut, and other trees, and in them many 
minerals are found — lead, copper, antimony, sulphur, 
and even gold and silver. There are not, there cannot 
well be, any rivers of importance; those which run off 
towards the south are quickly absorbed in the desert 
sands; those flowing north have too short a life to attain 
any appreciable size — about three hundred and seventy 
miles is the measure of the longest, from source to 
mouth. None of the Atlas peaks is snow-covered all 
the year round, but on some of them the snow lies until 
well into June; and the contrast between their cold look 
and the heat of the coast is great indeed. 



40 AFRICA TO-DAY 

Morocco is well defined, geographically, on the north 
by the Mediterranean and on the west by the Atlantic; 
while the boundary on the east, between this state and 
Algeria, has been fixed, although in a most arbitrary 
manner, by the treaty of 1844. But towards the south- 
east, the line which separates the province from the 
officially unappropriated part of the Sahara and that, 
too, on the extreme south, had not yet been clearly 
established until recently, when the Spanish colony of 
Rio d' Oro was delimited. It is well for the people of 
Morocco that Nature has seen fit to build the Atlas range 
as a barrier to the encroachments of the desert sands 
from the southeast; for if it were not for this it is prob- 
able that the fields would be converted into desert, 
although the prevailing winds rather tend to drive 
the sand in the opposite direction, towards the east. 
Notwithstanding the decidedly disagreeable character of 
the prominence given to Morocco during the past few 
years, it yet remains that portion of North Africa about 
which European and American information is most 
deficient, and the ordinary maps are based upon the most 
unscientific material supplemented by probabilities and 
conjecture. It is reasonably safe to say, however, that 
all of this uncertainty will be removed ere this twentieth 
century has grown much older. Should France really be 
granted a free hand, a trigonometrical survey will surely 
be one of the first things undertaken. 

The seacoasts — Mediterranean and Atlantic — have 
been well known for many centuries, and the latter is 
especially remarkable for its regularity and sameness, 
"not a single gulf or noteworthy estuary occurs through- 



NORTHERN AFRICA 41 

out its whole length." (Enc. Brit.) From the same 
authority is taken the following extract, which rather 
appeals to the tourist: "The prickly pear forms one of 
the features of the landscape from the coast up to the 
slopes of the mountains. The cork tree, common in the 
time of Addison, has lost ground enormously, though it 
probably forms the staple of the Ma'mura forest, which 
extends some twenty miles between the Bu Rakrak and 
the Sebu. Though not so widespread as in Algeria or 
some districts of Europe, the palmetto is often locally 
very abundant. Citrons, lemons, limes (sweet and sour), 
shaddocks, mulberries, walnuts, and chestnuts are 
common in many parts. Tetuan is famous for oranges 
[the 'Tangerenes'], Meknes for quinces, Morocco for 
pomegranates, Fez for figs, Tafilelt and Akka for dates, 
Sus for almonds, Dukalla for melons, Tagodast, Edante- 
nan, and Rabat for grapes, and Tarudant for olives. 
The grape is extensively cultivated and the Jews manu- 
facture crude but palatable wines. Sugar, once grown 
in Sus to supply the demands of the whole of Morocco, 
has disappeared. Both hemp and tobacco are cultivated 
under the restrictions of an imperial monopoly, — the 
former (of prime quality) being largely used as hasheesh, 
the latter, though never smoked, as snufL Barley is the 
most usual cereal, but excellent crops of wheat, maize, 
millet, rye, beans, pease, chick-peas, and canary-seed are 
also obtained. Potatoes are coming into favour in cer- 
tain districts. It is still true, as in the time of Addison, 
that the Moors 'seldom reap more than will bring the 
year about/ and the failure of a single harvest causes 
inevitable death." Yet other authorities tell of wonder- 



42 AFRICA TO-DAY 

fill underground granaries wherein are stored supplies of 
foodstuffs to last for years. 

Algeria as to-day is, of course, France's most impor- 
tant colony, and in all of the principal places the visitor 
feels almost as if in Europe; yet there is always the 
air of being away from "gay Paree" or any other home 
city. The north, east, and west boundaries are well 
defined, but the southern line is still most vague, and it is 
not likely that "vested interests" of other Powers will 
for a long time to come demand a strict delimitation of 
France's sphere of influence to and beyond the Niger 
River. The coast-line is already well equipped with a 
railway from Oran to Tunis, and there are many short 
branches running back into the hills, already presaging 
an extension of a great trunk line across the Sahara via 
Timbuctoo to the Gulf of Guinea, and in the east towards 
the French Sudan and Kongo region. The natives have 
for a long while spoken of two distinct zones, the Tell 
and the Sahara, running east and west. The former is 
the belt of truly arable soil, the "corn land," along the 
Mediterranean, and it is a series of fertile swales in 
which grow grain of many kinds, especially wheat and 
barley. Here were the great granaries that made Africa 
so famous in ancient times, as has already been told. 
The Sahara zone is not, strictly speaking, a part of that 
great desert, although it is sometimes so called; but 
there are here, again, two parallel sections: the northern 
is mountainous, yet very fertile in spots, and here are 
some of the greatest fruit orchards; the southern belt, 
bordering the Great Desert and projecting most in- 
definitely into it, is made up largely of oases, whose 



NORTHERN AFRICA 43 

inhabitants are shepherds and gardeners. Throughout, 
the mountainous regions are covered with extensive 
forests, but the lack of good roads and navigable rivers 
has prevented the French from deriving much benefit 
from this timber. There is temptation to dwell here 
upon the interesting history of this great French colony, 
but it must be resisted because of limitations of space. 
It is, however, but right to give the following extract 
from the Encyclopaedia Britannica : " The villages of the 
Sahara [zone] are surrounded by belts of fruit trees, of 
which the [date] palm is the chief, though there are also 
pomegranate, fig, apricot, peach, and other trees and 
vines. On the mountain ranges near the coast are ex- 
tensive forests of various species of oak, pine, cedar, elm,, 
ash, maple, olive, etc. The cork tree is also very common. 
The trees, especially the cedars and oaks, are frequently 
of gigantic size. Great injury is often done to the 
forests by the people annually burning up the grass of 
their fields. In this way extensive forests are sometimes 
consumed. . . . Locusts are common, and sometimes do 
great damage to the crops. One of the severest inva- 
sions of these pests ever known occurred in 1866, when 
the crops were nearly all destroyed, and the loss sus- 
tained by the colonists was estimated at £800,000." 
There is one part of Algeria which has the unenviable 
reputation of being one of the hottest places on earth, 
ranking with Death Valley, California, and the head of 
the Persian Gulf. On July 17, 1879, the thermometer 
registered 124 F. in the shade! 

Tunis. In spite of a promise made, according to the 
authority just quoted, that France did not intend to 



44 AFRICA TO-DAY 

maintain proprietary rights after carrying out punitive 
measures, found necessary because of the recrudescence 
of piracy, the Regency of little Tunis, which was formerly 
one of the Barbary States of North Africa, has been since 
1881 a dependency of France, whose resident-general 
exercises all real authority within the nominal dominions 
of the Bey of Tunis. Where it adjoins Algeria and 
Tripoli, the borders are defined with reasonable clearness 
and the coast-line is determined; but along the south 
the frontier line extends somewhat indefinitely into the 
Sahara. Were greater attention given to catering to the 
wants of winter travellers, Tunis would be an agreeable 
place for those who seek " Winter Sunbeams," because 
the mean temperature of the winter or rainy season is 
6o° F. in the northern part of the country, at Susa or 
the capital, Tunis; but at present there is little on the 
west, to draw the tourist away from Algeria, and simply 
nothing in Tunis on the east to set off against the 
attractions of Egypt or, but a short distance beyond 
Barca, of Tripoli. 

Tripoli or Fezzan, including Barca, is the last of these 
North African States to be discussed here; and again, 
excepting the sea-front and the northwestern border, 
where it marches with Tunis, the boundaries are most 
indefinite, for the actual frontier in or along the Libyan 
Desert (Egypt) and that in the Sahara have yet to 
be established. Since 1835 Tripoli has lost the semi- 
independent character of a regency, which it formerly 
enjoyed in common with Tunis, and has become a 
vilayet or outlying province of the Turkish Empire. 
There are extensive ruins which have not yet lost all 



NORTHERN AFRICA 45 

attraction for the archaeologist. The strip of fertile 
land along the Mediterranean is narrow, yet the country 
produces considerable grain, and the dates of Tripoli 
have the reputation of being the finest in all North 
Africa, if not in the whole world. The wide sandy plains 
and rocky, mountainous regions of the interior and south 
are practically non-productive. The country is, as a 
whole, badly watered; the rivers are small and the 
desert wells and watering places are often dry. It is 
strange how little attention has been given in modern 
times to the spacious harbours of Tibruk and Bomb a, 
but until progressive capitalists decide to build a railway 
to Lake Chad, to reach the populated Sudan, there is 
not likely to be much use made of these ports. "In 
consequence of recent events in Tunis, Tripoli has become 
the last surviving centre of the caravan trade of Northern 
Africa. It is at least two hundred and fifty miles nearer 
the great marts of the interior than either Tunis or 
Algeria. A large proportion of the commerce of Tripoli 
is in the hands of British merchants or dealers in British 
goods, who send cloth, cutlery, and cotton fabrics south- 
wards and receive in return esparto grass, ivory, and 
ostrich feathers."* 

In the next chapter we shall discuss the peoples and 
tribes of these four North African countries, and then 
it will be seen what absorbingly interesting problems 
are yet waiting to be solved by the student of sociology 
and anthropology. 

Since this chapter was written war has been declared 
by Italy against Turkey and a demand made for the 

* Encyclopaedia Britannica. 



46 AFRICA TO-DAY 

ceding of the entire province of Tripoli to the former 
country. Those who have made themselves familiar 
with the story of events in Northern Africa during the 
last twenty years will hardly be surprised either at 
the declaration of war or at the demand. When Italy 
evinced a disposition to make a somewhat similar 
demand, towards the end of the last century, and 
obtained from Great Britain reasonable assurance that 
the latter would not look upon the former's ambitions 
unfavourably, it was pretty well understood that, 
although conditions at that moment seemed to be 
adverse, Italy would eventually accomplish her pur- 
pose, and thereby drive the Turks from all active con- 
trol in Africa; and it is the general consensus of opinion 
that it is well this should be, although there are not 
wanting many intelligent and unprejudiced observers 
who disapprove strongly of the methods to which Italy 
has had recourse in accomplishing her objects. 

Yet if we investigate carefully the conditions that 
existed in Tripoli and its hinterland, under Turkish 
administration, we find that in the territories which that 
government had been controlling, there yet existed an 
active and cruel slave trade which should have been sup- 
pressed long since. It seems as if this buying and hold- 
ing of slaves must be a necessary concomitant of Turkish 
control in any part of Africa. It is alleged even that 
some Turks engage in the trade as a sort of pastime; 
and if transfer of possessory rights to Italy holds reason- 
able assurance of the suppression of this business, 
humanitarians should not cavil too much at the means 
Italy employs to accomplish this desirable end. It is, 



NORTHERN AFRICA 47 

however, useless and untrue for the Italian Government 
to pretend that its subjects were in personal danger or 
even treated unfairly by Turkish officials in Tripoli, or 
that their property and material rights were endangered, 
and the allegation to the contrary is but a pretence 
after all. Still, flimsier pretences than this have been 
found or made, many times before this, sufficient founda- 
tion upon which to base a declaration of war. The fact 
that Italy seems to have relied more upon British com- 
placency and French indifference than upon German 
or Austrian co-operation tends rather to make us 
think of her act as discrediting the famous Triple Alli- 
ance; but there have been so many events in late years 
which justified the suspicion that the great alliance is 
more a name than an effective combination, aggressive, 
defensive, or simply preventive, as to make this latest 
(possible) imputation upon it not in the least astonish- 
ing. With Great Britain as a neighbour on one side 
and France on the other, Italy, in Africa, will be almost 
a member of the entente cordiale. 

Intrinsically, the territory which Italy seems to have 
added to her domain is not of great value. The volume 
of trade passing over the caravan route to the Lake 
Chad district is not very large, and it is likely to 
decrease to even smaller proportions with the activities 
of the Egyptian influence in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 
diverting some of this trade into the Nile Valley, and 
with French effort to deflect more of it westward into 
French Sudan. It is highly probable that Italian effort 
may accomplish something in utilising the Tripolitan 
harbours, which have been mentioned, and it is not 



48 AFRICA TO-DAY 

impossible that Italy may undertake the building of a 
railway from Tripoli to Lake Chad, along the present 
caravan route; although in the light of present knowl- 
edge this must be called, commercially and industrially, 
a venturesome undertaking. Physically, it is not 
remarkably difficult; yet the Libyan Desert offers but 
scanty inducement in the matter of local traffic, except 
that everywhere in Africa the natives have taken so 
kindly to railway travel that passenger trains are said 
to be crowded on every line now opened, and this source 
of revenue may go a good way towards yielding profit- 
able returns on the investment. It is not likely that 
any objection would be raised by the Anglo-Egyptian 
or the French Government on the ground that the 
Tripoli-Chad line would be a parallel rival to the Cape 
to Cairo or the Algiers-Timbuctoo line; the interven- 
ing distance, in both directions, is too great to justify 
apprehension. 

Much has been said of the possibility of trouble for 
Italy with the Senussi when she has secured possession 
of the entire province of Tripoli and, with the con- 
currence of the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium and 
France, determined the southern boundaries of the 
colony. This, however, we think is something that has 
been unduly exaggerated. The most competent ob- 
server of recent years, Mr. Hanns Vischer, gives these 
Senussi people a fairly good reputation, and their alle- 
giance to Islamism is not so virile as to justify serious 
apprehension of their declaring a "Holy War" to 
resist annexation and control by Christian Italy. 



CHAPTER IV 

TEE PEOPLES AND TRIBES OF NORTHERN AFRICA 

THERE are not many places on this earth where, 
in such a comparatively small area, so great diver- 
sity in racial characteristics, degree of civilisation, and 
every phase of life is to be noted as in this relatively 
small section of the great continent, the part known as 
Northern Africa. It is quite impossible to give even a 
satisfactory approximation of the size of the four States 
which have been included in this section, for the reasons 
that were given in the last chapter — that is to say, the 
absolute indenniteness of their interior, southern, boun- 
daries; but we may say that, excluding the Sahara tract 
and the Tuat district of Morocco, the Algerine desert 
quite beyond the actual sphere of French influence, and 
guessing (somewhat wildly, to be sure) at the southern 
boundary of Tripoli, the aggregate of the four countries 
is something over half a million square miles and the 
population something like fifteen millions, including all 
races and peoples, which indicates a very sparsely settled 
territory — only about thirty to the square mile. 

Within this area the peoples are divided, racially, 
thus: i. Kabyles, or Berbers, who represent the aborig- 
inal inhabitants, and who have preserved, to a some- 
what remarkable degree, their purity; 2. The Arabs; 
3. The Moors; 4. The Jews; 5. The Turks; 6. The 

49 



50 AFRICA TO-DAY 

Kolouges, descendants of Turks by native women, but 
left by their fathers to shift for themselves; 7. The 
Negroes, and, 8. The Mozabites, an African race of 
people who have, in some strange way, sifted through 
the other peoples and reached the shores of the Medi- 
terranean, where they are the chief manual labourers — 
the longshoremen, stevedores, and roustabouts. There 
are, of course, a great many Europeans, of whom some 
may properly be called permanent residents; while the 
great majority are in the several countries for but a 
short time, still thinking of "home" as certainly across 
the sea and of the happy time when they may return 
to the homeland. 

In a most entertaining book, and yet one that is 
scientifically accurate enough to satisfy the demands of 
most people for precise information as at that certain 
time, Samuel S. Cox tells of his " Search for Winter 
Sunbeams"; that is, his experiences in Africa half a 
century ago. The book is now but seldom read, and 
yet the information which we are about to borrow from 
it concerning the Kabyles is quite as apposite to-day as 
it was when "Sunset" Cox wrote about those interesting 
people. Inverted commas are not inserted to indicate 
an exact quotation, because the expressions have been 
somewhat modified to adapt them to our present pur- 
poses. The Kabyles in the French colony of Algeria 
are seen, perhaps, to best advantage at Tizzi Buzi 
(Tiziuzi), between the city of Algiers and Fort Napoleon 
on the sides of one of the highest of the Eastern Atlas 
range of mountains, the chain which runs from Tunis 
westward through Algeria and Morocco to the Atlantic 



PEOPLES OF NORTHERN AFRICA 51 

coast near Cape Non. The loftiest peaks of this range 
are likely to be " silver-tipped " save in the heat of mid- 
summer, and strange stories are told of the early French 
troops leaving the plains in summer outfit, to return in 
a day or two with frosted hands and feet, much to their 
amazement. 

Perhaps the Kabyles do not appear so well as we read 
of them in history as do the Arabs; they do not dress so 
statuesquely; they wear no fetching sashes or cinctures; 
no fez or abundant turban hides the head. They are 
just common people who work hard, raise a great deal 
of grain — as Europeans, in ages long past, knew to 
their great and endless comfort; attend to their flocks 
most zealously; make local laws which (speaking in 
general terms and having due regard to France's super- 
vision) they obey faithfully; fight bravely and well, when 
they are pushed to it, but not seeking any needless 
quarrel merely for the gratification of seeing blood flow, 
and not prone to raids and depredations; holding to the 
tenets of the religion of this country, Islamism, with as 
earnest a soul as any class of labourers, patriots, or 
religionists on earth. It may easily be proved, by the 
ancient words of their language preserved in classical 
writings, that the Kabyles (Berbers) were the original 
occupants of the whole of this Northern Africa, and that 
they spread well down into the Sahara. They still are 
not only the most numerous, but the most industrious 
and civilisable section of all the native races. They 
tickle the ribs of old Atlas till he laughs with plenty! 
While the Arab is still by preference a dweller in tents, 
a nomad, the Kabyle almost invariably builds for him- 



52 AFRICA TO-DAY 

self a house of stone or clay, although it may be just one 
of canes, roofed with the same and thatched with straw. 
As to their personal appearance, the man's head is 
generally shaved, except the crown, where a short tuft 
of raven-black hair is allowed to grow. Their women 
are not veiled or hidden. Their dress is very primitive 
and yet not wholly devoid of attractiveness. They 
wear woollen robes summer and winter; their sheep give 
them their Roman senatorial toga, with its Capuchin- 
hood ornament. Linen and cotton they did not know, 
and hence did not use at all until recently, and even now 
they wear but little of it. Although they live within 
sight of telegraph lines, they still dress and eat, and watch 
their herds just as did Abraham, or any other Oriental 
patriarch. They do more and better — they raise good 
crops and are not wanderers upon the face of the earth. 
The Kabyles are older than the Arabs; they go back to 
the twilight of antiquity. In Northern Africa generally, 
and in Algeria especially, they are considered as aborig- 
inal, and certainly in their own government they are 
very independent and democratic. The tribes live in 
villages, usually quite small, and they may be counted 
by the hundreds from any elevated point. The villages 
are grouped into communes, decheras; each dechera has 
as many karoubas as there are distinct families. The 
members of the karoubas elect local councillors or dahman, 
each of whom represents the interests of his commune 
in the djemma, the local legislature or county council, 
which is presided over by an Amin, who is a village 
headman and possesses judicial as well as military author- 
ity. The collective Amins choose one of their number 



PEOPLES OE NORTHERN AFRICA 53 

to be the Amin of Amins, and he becomes the political 
chief, or president, of all the tribes, but in Algeria always 
under French supervision; although the latter have 
learnt the wisdom of as little interference as possible. 

A Kabyle looks upon his little plot of ground as his 
castle in very truth, and should anyone venture to step 
a foot on his land, after having been formally forbidden 
to do so, the owner would be very likely to kill the 
intruder without compunction, and he would be held 
blameless. Cox concludes his remarks about these in- 
teresting people thus: "If I were to speculate about the 
Kabyles, and with the valuable work of John C. Baldwin 
before me, I should say, first, the races are seldom found 
pure; secondly, that Africa, even in its interior, is not 
inhabited by savage blacks, like the Guinea negroes; 
thirdly, an opinion based on conversation with Dr. Beke 
and other explorers, that the African proper, if not 
white, is a ' red race' — that is, brown or olive coloured, 
like the Kabyles; fourthly, that in Northern Africa, 
although there is a great intermixture of black and white, 
growing out of the conquests of Phoenician, Greek, 
Roman, Goth, Turk, and French, yet so far as that 
portion of the continent is concerned, the Berbers, or 
Barbarians, now supposed to be the Tauarigs, or Touar- 
icks, are the prehistoric, primordial stock, from which 
the Kabyles are doubtless an offshoot. The Tauarigs 
are of the Desert and not the people to acknowledge the 
relationship; they are proud and reluctant to recognise 
any power but their own — even their camels are said to 
be more aristocratic than the beasts of other tribes. 
Whether coeval with the first forming of the Mississippi 



54 AFRICA TO-DAY 

delta, only one hundred thousand years ago, or the 
Florida coral reefs, still thirty-five thousand years older; 
whether they are Cushite, Semitic, or Aryan; whether 
out of Arabia, Egypt, or India; whether they are the 
second birth of a race, aroused to self-consciousness by 
some new physical developments — one thing is as cer- 
tain as any other nebulosities of history; viz., that the 
Kabyle is very like this same prehistoric Berber. The 
Kabyle is not black; neither is the Berber. Their colour 
comes alone from solar exposure, it is not organic; so of 
the Berber. He who describes the Berber unconsciously 
describes the Kabyle. . . . There is something very 
beautiful in the grand plan of the Mitidji. Not only its 
fields of waving oats, barley, and wheat, just ripening; 
not only its flax fields, in bluish bloom; not alone its 
flowers and shrubs, two out of every three of which we 
have seen in Corsica or in the Riviera; not alone its 
yellow genista, a flower of Gascony, and from which the 
Plantagenets took their name — for they are Gascons, 
like the flowers; not alone the ferula, the camels, the 
donkeys, all things please." The somewhat lengthy 
account of the Kabyles — or Kabail, as many ethnol- 
ogists and travellers contend the name should be 
written — has been given because they are the most 
interesting of all the Northern Africa peoples. 

The Arabs of this section are, of course, the descend- 
ants of the two great incursions by those people from 
their homeland in Arabia; the first — which has to do 
more particularly with Abyssinia and therefore comes in 
Chapter X, " Eastern Africa," — in the eighth century, 
and the second, which began in the eleventh. Of the 



PEOPLES OF NORTHERN AFRICA 55 

first it is unnecessary to speak here, for what is said of 
the Arabs now to be found applies with equal propriety 
to all. There are plenty of these people to be seen in 
all parts of this Northern Africa, and they are especially 
numerous in Morocco and the southern part of Algeria; 
in both these States it is impossible to draw a line which 
marks off, even approximately, the Arabs of the recog- 
nised government districts and those in the free desert. 
Some of the Arabs are cultivators of the soil and live 
permanently in villages in the neighbourhood of towns; 
but by far the great majority of them, true to those 
habits which are an inheritance from ancestors in the 
remote past, have no fixed habitations and dwell in tents, 
which they move about from place to place as the fancy 
strikes them or as the exigencies of their pastoral life 
demand. The preponderating influence which the Arabs 
exert is indicated by the statement of Dr. Latham* 
that all which is not Arabic in Morocco, Algeria, 
Tunis, Tripoli, and Fezzan is Berber, and that, as a 
general rule, the Arabic is the language for the whole 
of the seacoast from the Nile Delta to the Straits of 
Gibraltar, and from the Mediterranean down the Atlantic 
coast of Africa to the mouth of the Senegal. There is 
really but little that is attractive about the migratory, 
predatory, troublesome Arabs, and the fact is empha- 
sised by the history of Africa for many generations. 
"The origin of the Arab race, like that of most others, 

* Probably Robert Gordon Latham, whose contention for the 
European origin of the Aryans — rather favourably alluded to by 
Canon Isaac Taylor in his " Origin of the Aryans," — must be ad- 
mitted to reflect somewhat upon his reliability. 



56 AFRICA TO-DAY 

can be only a matter of conjecture; no credit can be 
attached to the assertion, evidently unbased on historical 
facts, of those authors who, building on the narrow foun- 
dation of Hebrew records, have included the entire 
nation under the titles of Ishmael and Joktan; and 
Mahometan testimony on these matters can have no 
more weight than the Jewish, from which it is evidently 
derived." * The race must be divided into two branches 
— the "Arab," or pure, and the "Mustareb," or supple- 
mental division ; and since the Arabs of Northern Africa 
are essentially Bedouins, nomads, " dwellers in the open 
land," it is probably safe to say that most of them belong 
to the Mustareb division. 

The Moors are among the most numerous of the inhab- 
itants of the Kingdom of Morocco; but they are, also, 
spread all along the southern Mediterranean littoral. 
Their evolution is most unsatisfactorily given. The 
most that can be said of them is that they are a mixed 
race, "grafted upon the ancient Mauretanian stock — 
whence their name." After the Arabs had conquered 
Northern Africa, including Egypt, in the eleventh cen- 
tury, the Moors became mixed with them; and when 
they in turn invaded Spain, they intermarried with the 
Spaniards, still further complicating the blood. The 
greater part of the Moors were driven out of Spain in 
the early years of the sixteenth century and returned 
to Mauretania, whence they have spread eastward 
throughout the whole of Northern Africa and southward 
to a considerable distance. By some writers it is said 
that the "Arabs of the towns are usually known as the 
* Enc. Brit., article Arabia. 



PEOPLES OF NORTHERN AFRICA 57 

Arabs; and among them are the Spanish Moors, de- 
scendants of the Andalusian refugees " ; but this is rather 
loose ethnology. It is certain that the town-dwelling 
Moors form a most exclusive and aristocratic class, who 
have no social intercourse with the true Arabs and 
very little to do with them in any way. The Moors are 
"a handsome race, having much more resemblance to 
Europeans and western Asiatics than to Arabs or Ber- 
bers," although their language is Arabic; that is, the 
Mogrepin dialect, which differs considerably from the 
Arabic in Arabia and even from that which is spoken 
in Egypt. Mograb is that region in Northern Africa 
which is nearly equivalent to the coast regions of Morocco 
and Algeria. "My proper name is known only to my 
brethren. The men beyond our tents call me Hayr ad- 
din Mangrabin; that is, Hayraddin the African Moor."* 

It is hardly necessary to say that the Moors are an 
intellectual people, having some attainments in educa- 
tion; with their known antecedents they could hardly 
be otherwise : but they have not a very attractive repu- 
tation, being "cruel, revengeful, and blood-thirsty, 
exhibiting but few traces of that nobility of mind and 
delicacy of feeling and taste which graced their ancestors 
in Spain. The history of the throne of Morocco, of the 
dynastic revolutions at Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, is 
written in blood; and among the pirates who infested 
the Mediterranean they were the worst." 

The Jews in this region were estimated, some years 
ago, to be between sixty and seventy thousand in num- 
ber, and it is not likely that they have materially 
* Scott, "Quentin Durward," Chapter XVI. 



58 AFRICA TO-DAY 

decreased. They are said to be looked upon by their 
orthodox co-religionists as almost apostate, so greatly 
have they diverged in ritualistic observance. As is the 
almost universal rule with Jews, these people in Northern 
Africa are to be found in the towns only, where they 
are money lenders and merchants. They use a corrupt 
form of Spanish for their speech and cannot be said 
to offer much that is attractive or even interesting to 
the visitor; although the tourist who seeks to increase 
his collection of curios from a region that is rich in 
possibilities will, of course, find himself continually deal- 
ing with these Jews, and he is quite as certain to suffer 
in consequence. 

The Turks, although the dominant race in Northern 
Africa for a long time, were never very numerous, and 
since the French occupation of Algeria and Tunis and 
preponderating influence in Morocco they have nearly 
disappeared. But wherever the Turk has been in Africa, 
as everywhere else for that matter, he has given way to 
his natural animal passion and taken the native women 
into his harem in any way that suited his pleasure — 
by nominal marriage, by purchase, or by capture. It is 
remarkable, however, that this intercourse has been 
most fruitful, and this custom has, in North Africa, 
resulted in the creation of a numerous mixed race, called 
Kolougis: for the Turkish fathers, on leaving for the 
homeland, seldom took any of these mixed offspring 
with them — never any of the girls; so that now a consid- 
erable proportion of the inhabitants of the towns are 
Kolougis. Of them the travellers rarely have much 
to say that is good. 



PEOPLES OF NORTHERN AFRICA 59 

The Negroes who are found in this region were, it need 
hardly be said, all slaves brought by caravans across the 
desert and who had been captured in the interior. 
Slavery is no longer tolerated in any part of this domain 
where European authority exists or influence asserts 
itself; but the negroes are still quite numerous and the 
traces of their blood in the mixed populace, distinct or 
remote as the case may be — for this progeny is a great 
factor in the general population , — are self-evident . When 
we know of the large number of negroes in Northern 
Africa, mulattoes, and thinner strains of the blood, and 
then read of the thousands upon thousands of these 
poor slaves who were abandoned in the desert when the 
water bags in the caravan ran low and the oasis failed 
to keep its promise of a fresh supply, it makes the heart 
ache. We shall learn something of the horrors of the 
Slave Caravans in the next chapter, "The Sahara," and 
something of the general inefficiency of the negro in 
Chapter XIII, "The Blacks of Africa." It is sufficient 
to say here that in North Africa they fill only the 
most menial of positions, except when, as eunuchs, they 
are placed in positions of some responsibility in charge 
of the harem of a Moor, an Arab, or a Turk. It is sel- 
dom that they are found to be efficient domestic servants 
in the household of the Europeans. The allusion just 
made to the harem recalls the fact that the women who 
have been born and brought up in the homes of Moslems, 
or those who have been forced to enter the harem by 
reason of purchase or capture, have been and still are 
treated as if they were scarcely human beings. They 
are taught that they exist merely to gratify the animal 



60 AFRICA TO-DAY 

passions of their lord, and since this sort of training 
cannot possibly induce anything like sincere affection 
and respect, these women are rarely influenced in their 
deportment by any sense of propriety or chastity. It is 
strange, yet the fact is vouched for by many observers, 
that nearly all of these Moslem women become possessed 
with violently amorous passion for Christians, if chance 
in any way gives them the opportunity of seeing one 
who is at all attractive, and then the infatuation which 
succeeds leads them to go to the greatest extremes, if 
only they can gratify their lechery. 

An exception must be made to the somewhat condem- 
natory remarks which have just been made upon the 
Negroes of Northern Africa in the case of the Mozabites, 
who are an African race and akin to the Negroes, if they 
are not actually Negroes themselves. They are found in 
most of the coast towns, from Tripoli west, and are de- 
scribed as an honest, industrious, and peaceable people ; 
the description differentiates them widely from the 
typical Negro of the same region. 

Of the continental European resident or temporary 
sojourner in Northern Africa it is not necessary to say 
anything, since they display no traits which in any 
way distinguish them from their fellows at home. But 
something may appositely be said about the Maltese, 
who probably are the most numerous of those whom 
we may call Europeans along the southern shore of the 
Mediterranean. They are described as being a strong, 
well-formed race, dark, handsome, and lithe; the women 
have black eyes and fine hair, are coquettish but chaste, 
they carry themselves gracefully and are attractive in 



PEOPLES OF NORTHERN AFRICA 6l 

every way, being cheerful, good, honest, and industrious. 
All these Maltese are sober and abstemious, although 
they are quick-tempered, and when their anger is aroused 
they are a little too much addicted to the use of the 
knife. There is a large infusion of Spanish, Italian, and 
even French blood, but among these African Mal- 
tese the Arabian characteristics predominate quite as 
markedly as on the island of Malta itself. In their 
language fully seventy per cent, of the words are Arabic, 
in fact or as derivatives, and the rest are corrupted 
Italian. As is said of the Maltese when at home, "the 
festivals and ceremonials of the Roman Catholic Church 
are kept up with extraordinary precision, while there 
are a few that are seemingly derived from the Greek 
Church. The perpetual ringing of monotonous church 
bells and the peculiar method of striking time — feat- 
ures which are very noticeable in the quarters where 
these Maltese congregate — are relics of Southern Ital- 
ian customs." 

There is an amusing myth told of the people of Tripoli 
city, who were said to entrust the guarding of their city 
in the night time entirely to mastiffs, dispensing alto- 
gether with the services of warders or patrols. The dogs 
were shut up during the day in one of the bastions of 
the ramparts. At night these animals discharged very 
faithfully the duties entrusted to them; they patrolled 
the streets, and if they happened to meet any person 
they were sure to tear him to pieces. The moment the 
day broke they went of themselves back to the door of 
their prisons; but at all times they would bark furiously 
the moment they heard anyone come near their habi- 



62 AFRICA TO-DAY 

tation, and their roaring was to be heard in all quarters 
of the city. 

We should hardly, in justice to the native population of 
Northern Africa, and especially of the Colony of Algiers, 
close this chapter without some reference to the unfair 
treatment to which the aboriginal peoples were subjected 
by their modern European conquerors. It is not neces- 
sary to go back into the ancient history of the land and 
tell of the cruel deeds of Greeks, Romans, and Goths — 
and there are some very black pages connected with 
Lybia, Numidia, Mauretania; but in the last century 
deeds were wrought of the grossest cruelty and treachery. 
One of the French generals, in 1831, killed a whole Arab 
tribe, including the feeble old men, the defenceless 
women, and the helpless children, because of a robbery 
that had been committed by some male members of the 
tribe. The same officer also treacherously caused two 
Arab chiefs to be murdered, after those men had given 
themselves up on the general's written assurance of 
their safety. Naturally such acts, and hundreds more 
like them, exasperated the natives, and their attempts 
at vengeance and reprisal greatly added to the burdens 
of the French. But can we truthfully say they were 
absolutely without justification? 

There has been, within the last fifty years, a marked 
improvement in the condition of the native population 
in French African territories. An act of July 19, 1865, 
gave to natives, both Mahometan and Jew, rank and 
prerogative equal with French citizens, on placing them- 
selves completely and absolutely under the civil and 
political laws of France ; and thus they were made admis- 



PEOPLES OF NORTHERN AFRICA 63 

sible to all the grades of the colonial army and navy 
and to many posts in the Civil Service. The colony is 
now represented in the National Assembly by delegates; 
and after many vicissitudes, the story of which belongs 
in the domain of precise history, the Colony of Algiers 
and the Protectorate of Tunis may be said to be 
now in a peaceable and flourishing condition. It will 
be known to all how the liberality of the act of 1865 
has been somewhat curtailed by subsequent legislation; 
although this has not been directed specifically against 
Algeria and Tunis. 



CHAPTER V 

THE SAHARA: THE DESERT, THE OASES, 
THE INHABITANTS, THE LIFE 

ONE of the earliest accounts which we have of the 
Sahara is that given by Herodotus, telling of 
certain Nasamonian youths, impressed by the marvel- 
lous stories from the desert that had reached their ears, 
who set out from their home, somewhere in the eastern 
central part of the continent, it is to be presumed, and 
probably to be located southeast of the desert itself, 
to explore the Libyan Desert. They were gone a long 
time and on their return had, of course, many wonderful 
tales to tell of their adventures. They found, far off in 
the wilds, a race of diminutive men, of less than middle 
stature, who carried them off as prisoners to their city, 
standing on the bank of a river flowing from west to 
east, in which river were many crocodiles. It is impos- 
sible to identify this river, but the association of little 
men, river flowing eastward, and crocodiles rather sug- 
gest the Niger country than the Sahara or Libyan desert. 
The intruders seem to have been very gently treated 
by the dwarfs, and eventually the Nasamonians returned 
safely to their home, emphasised the wonderful stories 
which had been heard before, and declared that the 
men whom they had met were necromancers. 
The general impression of the physical appearance of 

6 4 



THE SAHARA 65 

the desert, the one which prevails very widely, that it 
is a vast level or undulating expanse of sand, is by no 
means correct. There are rocky hills and mountains 
of no mean altitude; as, for example, the central range, 
about midway between the Nile and the Atlantic and 
running north and south, the Ahaggar (Hoggar or Tasili 
Ahaggar), a great mountain plateau, and in the east the 
Tarso mountains; while between them are the moun- 
tains of Air, of volcanic origin. " Nearly all the rest of 
the Sahara consists in the main of undulating surfaces 
of rock (distinguished as hammada), vast tracts of water- 
worn pebbles (serir), and regions of sandy dunes (vari- 
ously called maghter, erg or areg, igidi, and in the east 
rhart) which, according to M. Pomel, occupy about one- 
ninth or one-tenth of the total area." Scattered all over 
the desert are the ravines or narrow valleys {wadi), 
some of them more or less fertile ; and there are, besides, 
the great number of oases. On the caravan road from 
Tripoli to Lake Chad there are many of these hamada, 
and Hamada el Homra, "the red wilderness," stands 
first of all. A great range bars the road to the south 
between the coast of the Mediterranean and Fezzan; it 
rises in one great solid plateau of chalk, eighteen hun- 
dred feet in height, and it is about one hundred and 
forty miles broad where the road crosses it. Below it 
begins the desert proper, naked and hopeless. 

The Sahara has been visited by innumerable travellers 
of all classes, from the idlest tourist, merely on pleasure 
bent, to the most precise scientist. Representatives of 
all these have tried to give us their descriptions of the 
desert and to analyse their own impressions, and yet it 



66 AFRICA TO-DAY 

is safe to say that no one of them has been able to give 
a pen and ink picture which enables those who have not 
seen for themselves to get even a faint idea of just what 
the desert is. It is not intended to attempt to do here 
that which so many, far more competent, have failed in 
doing. For every visitor finds the desert to be totally 
different in its aspect and in its influence from his 
preconceived idea. The impressive desolation, the enor- 
mous mass of rolling sand, the atmosphere, the irresist- 
ible fascination of the place, all bid defiance to the pen, 
while the attempts to depict the desert with the brush 
have not yet been satisfactory and are not likely to be 
so. To the uninitiated, pictures are almost sure to suggest 
exaggeration of colour effects, both in land and in sky, 
while the experienced eye too often fails to be satisfied 
with even this seeming exaggeration. The statement of 
this writer, that he has seen sunsets in the desert which, 
if it were possible faithfully to reproduce them on canvas, 
would be pronounced, by those who have not seen the 
same sort of colour display, the fantasy of an overwrought 
imagination, will be endorsed by those who have seen 
just such gorgeous sunsets. One feature, however, may 
safely be named, since this is not a description — the awe- 
inspiring silence when the desert is in its normal condi- 
tion. This seems to grip the intruder's very soul, while 
the sunrise and sunset and the moonlight effects almost 
admit of description because of their very gorgeousness 
and the curious refraction that makes the distant hills 
appear to be floating in midair. Everyone who has seen 
the desert must agree with the writer who said: "The 
desert has left an impression on my soul which nothing 



THESAHARA 67 

will ever efface. I had entered it frivolously, like a fool 
who rushes in where angels and, I believe, even devils 
fear to tread. I left it as one stunned, crushed by the 
deadly majesty I had seen too closely. I imagine that 
such must be the feelings of the shipwrecked mariner 
whom the stormy seas have torn from his wreck and 
thrown, half drowned, upon the shore." * 

Another writer has tried to describe his sensations, 
and he has been almost successful, as having a slight 
feeling that he is leaving all things behind: "It seemed 
as if God were putting forth His hand to withdraw 
gradually all things of His creation, all the furniture 
He had put into the great Palace of the World; as 
if He meant to leave it empty and utterly naked. First 
He took the rich and shaggy grass, and all the little 
flowers that bloomed modestly in it. Then He drew 
away the orange groves, the oleander and the apricot 
trees, the faithful eucalyptus with its pale stem and 
tressy foliage, the sweet waters that fertilised the soil, 
making it soft and brown where the plough seamed it 
into furrows, the tufted plants and giant reeds that 
crowd where water is. And still, as the train ran on, 
His gifts grew fewer. At last even the palms were gone, 
and the Barbary fig displayed no longer among the 
crumbling boulders its tortured strength and the pale 
and fantastic evolutions of its unnatural foliage. Stones 
lay everywhere upon the pale and grey-brown earth. 
Crystals glittered in the sun like shallow jewels, and 
far away, under clouds that were dark and feathery, 
appeared hard and relentless mountains, which looked 

. *" Across the Sahara from Tripoli to Bornu," Hanns Vischer. 



68 AFRICA TO-DAY 

as if they were made of iron and carved into horrible 
and jagged shapes. Where they fell into ravines, they 
became black. Their swelling bosses and flanks, sharp 
sometimes as the springing of animals, were steel- 
coloured. . . . Domini scarcely looked at them. Till now 
she had always thought she loved mountains. The desert 
suddenly made them insignificant, almost mean to her. 
She turned her eyes towards the flat spaces. It was in 
them that mystery lay — mystery, power, and all deep 
and significant things. ... It was noon in the desert. 
The voice of the Mueddin died away on the minaret, 
and the golden silence that comes out of the heart of 
the sun sank down once more softly over everything. 
Nature seemed unnaturally still in the heat. The slight 
winds were not at play, and the palms of Beni-Mora 
stood motionless as palm trees in a dream. The day 
was like a dream, intense and passionate, yet touched 
with something unearthly, something almost spiritual. 
In the cloudless blue of the sky there seemed a magic 
depth, regions of colour infinitely prolonged. In the 
vision of the distances, where desert blent with sky, 
earth surely curving up to meet the downward 
curving heaven, the dimness was like a voice whispering 
strange petitions. The ranges of mountains slept in 
the burning sand, and the light slept in their clefts like 
the languid in cool places. For there was a glorious 
languor even in the light, as if the sun were faintly 
oppressed by the marvel of his power. The clear- 
ness of the atmosphere in the remote desert was not 
obscured, but was impregnated with the mystery that is 
the wonderous child of shadows. The far-off gold that 



THE SAHARA 69 

kept it seemed to contain a secret darkness. In the oasis 
of Beni-Mora men, who had slowly roused themselves 
to pray, sank down to sleep again in the warm twilight 
of shrouded gardens or the warm night of windowless 
rooms. 

The gazelle dies in the water, 

The fish dies in the air, 

And I die in the dunes of the desert sand 

For my love that is deep and sad. 
No one but God and I 
Knows what is in my heart." * 

But the desert in its anger, is described in quite a 
different strain: "As the sea in a great storm rages 
against the land, ferocious that land should be, so the 
desert now raged against the oasis that ventured to 
exist in its bosom. Every palm tree was the victim of 
its wrath, every running rill, every habitation of man. 
Along the tunnels of mimosa it went like a foaming 
tide through a cavern, roaring towards the mountains. 
It returned and swept about the narrow streets, eddy- 
ing at the corners, beating upon the palm-wood doors, 
behind which the painted dancing-girls were cowering, 
cold under their pigments and their heavy jewels, their 
red hands trembling and clasping one another, clamour- 
ing about the minarets of the mosques on which the 
frightened doves were sheltering, shaking the fences 
that shut in the gazelles in their pleasaunce." f 

A different attempt at describing the desert, with a 
very fetching slap at the ways of "personally conducted 
tourists," is adapted from another book, but not as a 
* " The Garden of Allah," Robert Hichens. t Ibid. 



70 AFRICA TO-DAY 

precise quotation. We went through the rich fields of 
Abydos to visit the sanctuaries of Osiris, beyond green 
plains, on the edge of the Libyan desert. Suddenly, 
after passing between the little houses and through the 
trees of a village, quite a different world was reached — 
the familiar world of glare and death which presses so 
closely upon inhabited Egypt — the desert. The desert 
of Libya begins at once, without transition, absolute 
and terrible, as soon as one leaves the thick velvet of 
the last field, the cool shade of the last acacia. Its 
sands seem to slope towards one, in a prodigious incline, 
from the strange mountains that were to be seen from 
the happy plain, and which now disappear, enthroned 
beyond, like the monarchs of all this nothingness. The 
town of Abydos was here, yet it has vanished; but the 
necropolis, more venerated than that of Memphis even, 
and its thrice-holy temple are still west, buried under 
the destructive and yet preserving sands. The desert! 
As soon as one puts foot upon its shifting soil, which 
smothers the sound of one's steps, the atmosphere too 
seems suddenly to change; it burns with a strange new 
heat, as if great fires had been lighted in the neighbour- 
hood. The colours of the ground are brown, red, yellow. 
The horizon trembles in the mirage. The Necropolis 
of Abydos once, and yet for hundreds of years, exercised 
extraordinary fascination over the Egyptians; it was 
the precursor of later comers, possibly of those of the 
present dwellers in the Nile Valley. Osiris was the head 
of the pantheon; he was the lord of the other world, 
and he reposed in the depths of one of the temples that 
are to-day buried in the sands that have silently, slowly, 



THE SAHARA 71 

relentlessly swept in from the desert. Good influences 
emanate from all parts of this sacred domain, but there 
are certain places which are particularly capable of 
conferring good luck to all entrusted to them ; hence all 
wished to lie near their gods. So great was the crowd 
of bodies brought for sepulture here that many of the 
mummies had to be stood up in rows wherever space 
could be found, and there were funeral processions all 
the time along the road from the Nile to Abydos. Of 
the temples, the first was that built by King Seti in 
honour of the Prince of the Other World, Osiris; and 
in the spacious halls of this temple, which have been 
cleared of the sand that so long buried them, to-day 
one of the most popular entertainments offered to 
Cook's tourists, who go to see the temple and the awe- 
inspiring desert, is a luncheon spread on tables set up 
in what should be respected, even by Christian visitors, 
as a sacred spot, reclaimed at great expense and with 
supreme labour from the silence of the desert. And 
until the desecration was stopped by official order at 
the urgent request of Europeans, the limestone bas- 
reliefs were crushed to make cement for building 
purposes in a mill hard-by, owned by other foreign 
vandals. These bas-reliefs were in every way beyond 
price. Think of this outrage! The walls, as restored, 
display fresh colouring and an artless kind of frescoing 
that are bright after thirty-five hundred years. The 
old Egyptians could not think of interring their dead 
in such gloomy places as our modern cemeteries usually 



are.* 



* See " La Mort de Phils/' Pierre Loti. 



72 AFRICA TO-DAY 

Oases are defined as various fertile tracts occurring 
throughout the great belt of deserts extending from the 
west coast of Africa, across practically the whole of that 
continent, across Arabia, and on to Central Asia. These 
garden-like spots, the oases, are watered by natural 
springs, ordinary or artesian wells, and are clothed with 
vegetation. The best known are those which occur 
in the central and eastern portions of the Great Sahara 
and in the Libyan deserts. It is said that what seems 
to be almost a chain of oases in the eastern part of the 
latter are the present survivals of a broad belt of arable 
land which extended from the west bank of the Nile 
far out beyond these comparatively small tracts of fertile 
land, and it is declared that had reasonable intelligence 
been displayed and ordinary care been taken, the en- 
croachment of the sand upon much of this great tract 
might have been stopped; but it was manifestly much 
easier for the farmers, thousands of years ago, to move 
away from the oncoming desert than to struggle against 
the overwhelming sand. As Sir H. H. Johnston inti- 
mates in his Foreword to Mr. Vischer's book:* "'What 
the Young Turks had already achieved in the, until then, 
neglected Tripolitaine, even before the revolution of 
1908 placed them in power, is a very hopeful promise 
for the future condition of Turkish North Africa and 
should be a distinct help to the new Turkish cause. 
While Mr. Vischer's accounts of how French soldiers 
have fought recalcitrant Nature and negligent man, and 
are already beginning to restore a most happy form 
of civilisation to districts that once enjoyed a radiant 

* Opus cit. 



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THE SAHARA 73 

prosperity (until the desert, and still more the wanton 
Tuareks, got the upper hand), will strengthen the bonds 
of friendship between France and those other sister 
nations of hers in Europe who are trying, with occasional 
mistakes, it must be admitted but, on the whole, with 
happy results, not only to make Africa as good as she 
has ever been at her best, but far better as the home of 
man and, it is to be hoped, if this is not too presump- 
tuous, the home for a long time to come of some of 
the most wonderful beast forms that the earth has 
ever known." 

In the North African deserts these oases are generally 
found in deep depressions or valleys; the constantly 
recurring "wadi" of our maps often points to the place 
where these fertile places are to be found, for it is here 
that the water comes to the surface in natural springs 
or is procured by sinking wells which are rarely of very 
great depth. There is good reason to believe that many 
parts of the desert are underlaid with watercourses, and 
it is certain "the Arabs have long been in the habit of 
tapping these subterranean waters by sinking wells, a 
copious supply being usually obtained at depths varying 
down to two hundred fathoms. Indeed, so rapidly does 
the water ascend when the aqueous strata are pierced 
in certain localities that the well-sinkers are sometimes 
suffocated ere they reach the surface." The French 
have sunk a number of artesian wells in the desert south 
of Algeria, and so successfully that oases have been 
developed to such a satisfactory degree that the natives 
are encouraged to turn from their nomadic life and be- 
come permanent, peaceful agriculturalists. These artifi- 



74 AFRICA TO-DAY 

cial oases, if we may be permitted to coin the expression, 
are not always permanent, and if the supply of water 
becomes insufficient or gives out altogether, the relapse 
into sterility is rapid and destructive. But this lack 
of permanency is not a characteristic of some of the 
artificial oases only, for even when the oasis is a natural 
one, if it is small great care and constant attention are 
necessary to stop the encroachment of the sand, else 
the tract speedily becomes overwhelmed; and it is sur- 
prising how persistent is the old habit of indifference 
among the natives — it often leads them to neglect their 
own welfare unless carefully supervised. 

In the western part of the Sahara, Tuat, about one 
thousand miles southwest of Tripoli, is probably the 
most important of the oases — as Fezzan and Air (or 
Asben) are in the eastern Sahara. This last is some 
hundred and eighty miles in length from north to south 
and has a population of upwards of sixty thousand souls 
living in a number of villages and towns of considerable 
size. In the Libyan desert Khargeh (or Kharije), about 
one hundred and twenty miles west of Luxor (Thebes), 
is sometimes called oasis magnus. There are a great 
many more of these spots throughout the deserts, ranging 
in size from an acre or two to those immense tracts that 
have been mentioned, and which support populations 
numbering scores of thousands. It is strange how many 
Europeans have yielded to the fascination of life in these 
garden spots; the soil is almost always exceptionally 
fertile, the variety of crops surprising, all that is needed 
to support human existence is given by lavish Nature 
without even the asking, and raiment — the little that 



THE SAHARA 75 

is needed — can be had for a song. With the possible 
exception of some of the most favoured islands of the 
Southern Seas, no spot on earth can excel these oases for 
absolute dolcefarniente, if human indolence seeks it. 

There is a very considerable and yearly increasing 
trade carried on in the desert; although it must be said 
that with the changes which have come in the matter 
of communication business now finds access to the 
world at very different places from those which were 
reached by caravans when all of them went to the north. 
Of the importation of cotton goods, machinery, and vari- 
ous articles of American or European manufacture, noth- 
ing is said here because such information is so entirely 
of a statistical nature and obtainable in any Trade 
Returns. The principal commodities which were carried 
by the caravans were dates and salt. The main sources 
of supply for the latter were the rock-salt deposits of 
El Juf and the oasis of Kawar, the lakes of Kufrah, and 
the brine wells of Kawar. The dates are gathered in 
every one of the innumerable oases, it being estimated 
that there are fully five million date-palm trees growing 
in these fertile spots of the desert — from Cape Non 
to the Nile Valley. The most important of the former 
trade routes were: Morocco to Cairo by way of Insala, 
Ghadames (Tripoli), and through Barca to Egypt. This 
was the route taken by practically all of the Moslem 
pilgrims of Western Africa and the Central Sahara in 
going to and returning from Mecca. That was, of 
course, in the time when a voyage by sea was not safe 
for either Moslem or Christian, but since the introduc- 
tion of steam navigation and the opening of the Suez 



76 AFRICA TO-DAY 

Canal, these pilgrims take passage by coastwise steamers. 
Other old, important caravan routes were those from Kuka 
to Murzuk and Tripolis; from the Sudan to Tripolis by 
way of Air and Ghat; from Timbuctoo to Insala and 
on to Tripolis; from Timbuctoo to Algiers and Tunis, 
also to Morocco. The only one of these that is now 
of really much importance is the Tripolis-Kuka one, 
going on to the Lake Chad district; this has been already 
mentioned in Chapter III. It may be added that the 
southern end of this route is not like some other places, 
where the desert ceases and arable land begins. Often 
the transition is most abrupt, as has been noted in the 
case of the extreme eastern border of the Libyan desert, 
were the sand stops sharply defined. In the Lake Chad 
region the desert gradually gives way to vegetation and 
forests of acacia trees appear; frequently thorn- trees 
are met first, and excellent pastures for camels, with 
stubbly grass in between forest and pasture, are crossed, 
until at length the full glory of the tropics is reached. 

The bald statement that the principal inhabitants of 
the Sahara are Arabs, Berbers, and Negroes, is but 
partially satisfactory, because even the Arabs now dis- 
play marked differences of character, although always 
permanent in racial type; while the various tribes of 
Berbers evince their usually unattractive traits in vary- 
ing degree, according as they are influenced by situation 
and human surroundings. Of the Negro tribes, it is 
the same here as elsewhere, that a very short interval 
of space marks a great difference in characteristics. 
The Berbers are, in the main, to be found in the eastern 
and central parts of the desert; yet they are to be met 



THE SAHARA 77 

with, here and there, in the western central regions, 
and even go northward into Morocco and Algeria. The 
Negro tribes are spread along the southern parts of the 
desert, where it merges into the Sudan, and they go 
northward and northeastward from Lake Chad. The 
Arabs are in possession of all the country wherever there 
is neither Berber nor Negro. 

The slight difference (although sometimes it is impor- 
tant) in customs, dialect, and other traits, which mark 
off the separate communities of all these three races, 
offers an attractive opportunity for research by the 
ethnologist which promises rich results; and there is 
yet so much that is not known about these Saharan 
peoples that all will welcome the gradual opening of 
the country. It is specially to be noted how the display 
of military power has affected the Bedouins and the 
Berbers; this is one of the few places in the world where 
the non-militarist finds the "mailed-fist" justifiable. 
Wherever these peoples have been brought under French 
discipline there is a marked improvement in their wild 
habits and a corresponding display of appreciation on 
their part for the security of life and property. 

Not any of the authoritative writers on Saharan topics 
has a good word to say for the Tuareks (wild Berbers), 
who, although allied to the attractive Kabyles of Mo- 
rocco and Algiers, are not to be compared with them 
in character. Mr. Vischer tells of his troubles with the 
Tuareks, and his opinion of them tends to confirm that 
of all others who have expressed themselves. 

The Kwaidas love their own oasis (Wunzerik) more 
than does any tribe of the desert feel affection for its 



78 AFRICA TO-DAY 

home, and life in that place approaches more nearly to 
an ideal which satisfies us than, probably, at any other 
place in the desert. Here tea is cultivated and the 
inhabitants are very fond of the beverage. In its use 
they have arranged a ceremonial that is said to be 
almost as punctilious as is the famous one of Japan, 
the cha-no-yu. There is a Senussi poem in praise of 
tea, which is really much admired by those who are 
able to understand it. Wunzerik is at the eastern end 
of Wadi Shiati, the most northern of the well-watered 
depressions of Fezzan. The merchants here, if not 
positively dishonest/ are adept in devising means for 
getting much money for small supplies. 

The people of the oasis of Mandara, where there is 
a little lake of natron, are negroes, probably Kanuri, 
perfect specimens of the negro in form and features, 
having large mouths, thick lips, and broad noses, but 
good teeth and high foreheads. The women try to 
make up for their utter lack of physical beauty by ex- 
tensive tattooing; they also stain their faces with indigo 
and dye their front teeth black and their canine teeth 
red. Polygamy is permitted but the expense of a multi- 
plicity of wives induces even the wealthiest men to be 
satisfied with two, or three at the most. Throughout 
Bornu, whence these Kanuri come, Islamism is universal 
and is practised with bigotry and violence. With these 
suggestions about the Saharan people we leave them. 

Politically, the Sahara belongs partly to Morocco, 
partly to France through her position in Algeria and 
Tunis, and partly to Turkey through Tripoli, Egypt, etc. 
We know how assiduously France has been pushing 



THESAHARA 79 

southward from her Algerian frontier and has planned to 
build a railway across the desert, by way of Timbuctoo, 
to connect with her Senegambian colony. In further- 
ance of this scheme for dominating the Sahara, a plan 
has been mooted for creating an inland sea of something 
like thirty-one hundred square miles in area, and per- 
haps sixty to one hundred feet in depth. The plan has 
been declared entirely feasible by competent engineers 
(M. de Lesseps for example) and likely to contribute 
much towards furthering France's ambitions; especially 
as against the awkward spirit of independence which is 
displayed by the Mahometan populations of the desert. 
It is not likely, if we may judge by the known influence 
of existing inland seas, such as the Caspian and Aral, 
that the construction of this Saharan Sea will have 
any appreciable effect for good upon the rainfall in 
the desert. 



CHAPTER VI 

EGYPT: THE MYSTERIOUS LAND OF 
ANCIENT DAYS 

WE now purpose giving consideration to some of 
the attributes of that mysterious life which 
found their expression in the monuments and even 
humbler works — all of them remarkable in their vary- 
ing degrees — of architect, engineer, scribe, or artisan, 
and which to-day have been restored to us through 
the assiduous efforts of competent savants and the 
sustained labour of intelligent, hard-working super- 
intendents of native labourers who have dug deep into 
the superincumbent sand, clearing the remains of 
temple or monument for us to see something of that 
Mysterious Land of Ancient Days. The present writer 
here admits his indebtedness to the recently published 
book by M. Moret.* 

It is doubtless correct to say yet that history begins 
on the banks of the Nile, but the recent explorations in 
Babylonia and Assyria bid fair to give that part of Asia 
a record for antiquity in civilisation which may ere long 
push Egypt very closely. In this connection it is neces- 

* "In the Time of the Pharaohs," Alexander Moret, Sub-Director of 
the Musee Guimet and Professor of Egyptology in L'Ecole des Hautes 
Etudes. The English translation by Madame Moret is well done, but, 
as is always the case, those who are able to read the book in the 
original will derive even greater satisfaction. 

80 



EGYPT: THE MYSTERIOUS LAND 8l 

sary to explain the meaning of the word Thinite, of 
rather modern use in Egyptian terminology. It denotes 
the first two dynasties of kings, beginning with Menes, 
whose date is variously given as from 5702 to 2691 B.C. 
Mariette, who is probably, all things considered, a most 
precise, painstaking, and reliable investigator, says 
5004, Brugsch 4445, Lepsius 3892, as the first year of 
the first dynasty; the second continuing down to 4751, 
Mariette, and 3639, Lepsius. They had their origin in 
the capital city, Thinis, near the site of later Abydos, 
about two hundred miles up the Nile from Cairo and 
famous for the palace of Memnon and the temple of 
Osiris. Of this Thinite civilisation M. Moret says: 
"The excavations or researches of Messrs. Maspero and 
Barsanti have established the fact that the sites of 
Memphis and Sakkarah were occupied by the Thinite 
kings; the researches of M. Weill have proved the 
existence of monuments of King Meisekh in the mines 
of Sinai, the working of which dates back to the first 
dynasty. The whole of Egypt, therefore, was once 
under Thinite rule. Thinite civilisation differs funda- 
mentally from the culture of the neolithic age* in that 
it acquired a few new elements of the utmost importance 
— the use of metal, the art of building, the knowledge 
of writing. The indigenous population could not have 
contributed the elements of such considerable progress; 
its potters and carvers did not become the smiths and 
masons of Abydos and Negadeh. We are forced to 

*The fact of there having been in Egypt both paleolithic (old 
stone) and neolithic (new stone) ages — that is, periods during which 
rough flint implements and, later, dressed ones were in use — has been 
satisfactorily demonstrated. 



82 AFRICATO-DAY 

the conclusion that some invasion brought into Egypt 
a new race — the Egyptians of the historic period. " 
At another place M. Moret declares: "The question 
of the origins of Egypt may be put to-day in the follow- 
ing terms: a race, called native or indigenous, having 
attained the highest stage of neolithic civilization, occu- 
pied the valley of the Nile; & foreign race, more civilised, 
of unexplained origin, displaced the first and founded 
around Abydos a kingdom which we call Thinite, to use 
the term of Manetho again." 

But M. Moret goes further and contends that because 
the language of these invaders was completely formed 
when they arrived, using the signs that are called hiero- 
glyphics, "which, while reproducing the shape of a 
particular object or being, are rarely ideographic, " and 
because the Egyptian language is a branch of the 
Semitic trunk, all this "is a potent argument in favour 
of the Asiatic origin of the invaders." Furthermore, he 
believes that the admitted facts "point to the conclu- 
sion that these newcomers came from Chaldea." Since 
then these signs would justify the statement that they 
brought with them a civilisation which was well estab- 
lished, it is not altogether illogical to say that the claim 
for the antiquity of Egyptian history is, at least, begin- 
ning to have a rival in that of Assyria and Babylonia; 
because there must naturally have been something in 
Chaldea from which to draw. This theory is advanced 
most tentatively, however, and does not pretend to be 
destructive of any recognised history; because the writer 
makes not the slightest claim to being an Egyptologist. 

Another point to be noted in support of this argument 



EGYPT: THE MYSTERIOUS LAND 83 

for the influence of Asiatic civilisation is found in the 
interesting chapter, "Pharaonic Diplomacy," of M. 
Moret's book. In the summer of 1887 some Egyptian 
fellahs were pulling down portions of the walls of one 
part of a large building at Karnak, since identified as a 
palace of King Amenophis IV (fifteenth century B.C.), 
the heretic king. These peasants discovered some 
incised bricks, etc., which proved to be a stock of Baby- 
lonian tablets, and when deciphered they were found 
to be official communications, notes, and reports — cor- 
respondence, in fact — in cuneiform characters. There 
were, to be sure, marginal notes in the Egyptian char- 
acter, which was of later development; but the fact 
that a Babylonian scribe was attached to the Egyptian 
"Department of State," or "Foreign Office," over thirty- 
five hundred years ago for the purpose of conducting 
this diplomatic correspondence, certainly seems to give 
a degree of precedence to the Babylonian script which 
is worthy of consideration. This episode is but one of 
many that are of absorbing interest as giving us a 
glimpse to-day of what the Mysterious Egypt was. 

The dedicatory legends cut deep into the prominent 
stones, the doorposts and lintels of some of the ancient 
buildings of Egypt read: "Temples to endure for mil- 
lions of years, founded for ever and ever," and it was 
not unnaturally supposed that having endured for so 
long as four or five thousand years, or longer, some of 
them almost intact architecturally, they would con- 
tinue to stand "for ever and ever." Perhaps, had there 
never been any yielding to the desire to see with our 
own eyes some of these monuments, all if possible; 



84 AFRICA TO-DAY 

had we been content with what myth and legend told 
us, they might have slept peacefully and practically 
undamaged beneath their covering of the desert sands. 
But if there was to be material development in Egypt 
it had to carry with it full consequences, and one of 
them meant disaster to those old monuments unless 
modern science put forth its hand to save them; and 
salvation meant restoration, for the extended irrigation 
scheme allowed the Nile water to work havoc where 
before had been preservative dryness. Since the work 
of excavation has been prosecuted so actively, it is 
found that two causes are operating disastrously and 
with remarkable speed to bring about the complete 
destruction of those priceless old buildings, tombs, 
palaces, and monuments. The first of those causes 
is that which would naturally follow from the way 
most of the superterrene edifices had originally been 
constructed; without adequately deep and broad founda- 
tions to bear up the immense weight put upon them, 
and the weathering which would necessarily follow if 
the foundation gave way or a defective joint in the 
masonry allowed one block to slip from its place and let 
others, dependent upon it, follow the collapse. The 
other cause is the great accumulation of debris in which, 
because of human beings and animals taking up their 
abode in or above the old buildings (which have been 
completely imbedded in the sand), there is much salt- 
petre, and this corrodes the masonry whenever it is 
moistened by rain or when, as has been the case par- 
ticularly since the construction of the great dam at 
Assouan, the Nile water floods the old buildings and 



EGYPT: THE MYSTERIOUS LAND 85 

remains standing for some six months, thus helping 
greatly in the destruction of all stone, particularly 
the granite and limestone used in constructing those 
buildings. 

Some of those magnificent old edifices were in such a 
state of hopeless, helpless ruin when the idea of trying 
to restore the Egyptian monuments, or at least attempt 
to preserve them from further destruction, was first 
conceived that it was then altogether too late to save 
them from their deplorable fate. Others had practically 
disappeared entirely. It is known that Ousirniri, of the 
fifth dynasty, about 3500 B.C., built a grand temple in 
honour of the sun god, Ra, the first king of the Egyp- 
tians, who, they say, reigned more than twenty-three 
thousand years before Alexander's conquest; that Mon- 
touhotpou, of the eleventh dynasty, about 2500 B.C., 
had erected another, in pyramidal form; but there 
is now nothing to be seen of them except bare ter- 
races, scattered bas-reliefs, and a few crumbling colon- 
nades, and there are others which we know to have 
existed, while there must have been many of which we 
know nothing even by hearsay. The expert Egyptologist 
who visits Karnak may, perhaps, still find quite near 
the pylons of Thothmes " marvellous carved blocks, 
half buried, which are all that remain of the effaced 
halls erected by the Ousirtasens and Amenophises" ; yet 
Karnak was once the most famous place in all Egypt, 
a national sanctuary, where every Pharaoh, from the 
chieftains of the primitive clans to the Roman Caesars, 
used to build a temple or a chapel. 

The eye prefers to rest securely on the buildings of 



86 AFRICA TO-DAY 

the Rameses, or of the Bubastite kings. There, at least, 
the general plan of the Egyptian temple still stands out 
distinctly, though many walls have fallen in and the 
construction is complicated. 

An Avenue of Sphinxes leads to a high gate, defended 
by two pylons similar to the towers of our cathedrals. 
In front of the gate are placed two obelisks, as well as 
colossal statues in a seated or standing posture. Cross- 
ing the threshold, we enter a spacious court surrounded 
by a cloister of colonnades or caryatids; in the centre 
is an altar whereon the offerings were burned. Walking 
up a gentle incline, we come to what is known as the 
"hypostyle" court, where many rows of enormous col- 
umns support, at the height of sixty- three to sixty-six feet, 
a ceiling of ponderous flagstones. At New Year's, on 
fete-days of the seasons, and on days set apart for divine 
or royal worship, the crowd of devotees had access to 
this part of the building, in order that they might see 
the procession of the gods or of the king. Before entering 
into the court, ablaze with sunshine and flooded with 
light untempered by any kind of awning or screens, 
it must have been pleasant to linger in the freshness 
and dimness of these high covered halls. But beyond 
this court no human being would dare venture unless 
he were of divine race, either in his own right, by birth, 
or by initiation. Only the high priest and the king 
had access to the sanctuary, a central chamber, low 
and massively constructed, with no other opening than 
the door. There was installed behind the bolted and 
sealed panels, in complete darkness almost, the statue 
of the god, placed in an ark or granite naos, waiting 



H 



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EGYPT: THE MYSTERIOUS LAND 87 

for the celebrant who was to summon him to activity 
by force of secret rites.* 

There are some temples which have been but little 
damaged by the weather, and because they were sunk 
in the living rock, so that they were not attractive as 
residences for human beings, have suffered less than 
many others at the hand of man. At Deir-el-Bahrif 
the underground part of the temple is practically unin- 
jured; as is also the large speos of Abu Simbel, } which 
is lighted to its very depths by the rays of the rising 
sun, and whose entrance is guarded by four colossi 
chiselled from the solid rock. 

Some of the superterrene temples, also, are in remark- 
ably good state of preservation. Those which were 
repaired or entirely reconstructed by the Ptolemies and 
Caesars at Edfu (on the left bank of the Nile in latitude 
24 59/ N.), Philse (an island in the Nile sixty miles south 
of the last mentioned), Denderah (on the river, a hun- 
dred and thirty miles north of Philae) were built about 
a thousand years after those which have been described. 
They were well cared for until the fourth century of the 
Christian era; they show a more distinct and uniform 
plan in their construction than do the older edifices, and 

* Adapted from M. Moret, op. cit. 

t Deir-el-Bahri. Here in 1881 M. Maspero made by chance a 
remarkable archaeological discovery — that of a number of mummies of 
the Pharaohs, including some of the most famous of the Egyptian kings, 
among them Thothmes II and Thothmes III, the conqueror of Assyria, 
Seti I, and the great Rameses II, the "Pharaoh of the oppression." 
These mummies are in a remarkable state of preservation and supply a 
not inadequate picture of the features of the sovereigns in life. See 
Century Dictionary and Chapter VII infra. 

Jin Upper Egypt, built by Rameses II, nineteenth dynasty, about 
1300 B.C. 



88 AFRICA TO-DAY 

it is thought by some "perhaps the harmonious pro- 
portions of Greek art influenced the last Egyptian 
architects. " If this was so, it cannot truthfully be said 
to have been a real improvement. "The largest of the 
Ptolemaic structures no longer give that impression of 
heroic grandeur which is striking in the case of Karnak 
and of the Rameseum; their outlines are stiff and hard; 
their dimensions appear meagre even when they are vast; 
the decoration is overdone rather than sumptuous; the 
reliefs and inscriptions show a compromise between the 
realistic modelling of Greek art and the hieratic gener- 
alisation of the old national style, and as a result are 
seen those sad and monotonous faces that make a visit 
to Esneh and to Denderah painful." Yet there is much 
that attracts at all three of these places and a great deal 
which justly calls forth praise even from those who are 
disposed to be technically critical. 

Briefly summarising, it must be said that the temples 
which were built before the advent of the eighteenth 
dynasty* are nothing but ruins which appeal to the 
archaeologist only; that the monuments of the next 
period remain in an unsatisfactory state of partial de- 
struction, and "only the temples last constructed seem 
still to defy the centuries." 

Besides the comparatively transient causes of destruc- 
tion to which allusion has been made briefly, there should 
be mentioned some others; for we cannot discuss all 
exhaustively. Some of these cannot truthfully be said 
to add much lustre to our boasted Christian civilisation 

* Mariette combines the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth 
dynasties in one, calling that the eighteenth, 2214 to 1462 B.C. 
Lepsius gives 1591 as the date of the eighteenth. 



EGYPT: THE MYSTERIOUS LAND 89 

that was, in the early centuries, iconoclastic if it was 
nothing else. The temples of Egypt, in particular, were 
frightfully neglected for a long time from internal as 
well as foreign causes. The Roman Emperor Theodo- 
sius I (346-395 a.d.), having yielded submission to the 
Christian prelate, Ambrose, one of the Fathers of the 
Latin Church and for a time Bishop of Milan, prohibited 
every form of religious worship except that of Chris- 
tianity; and inasmuch as Egypt was then under his 
dominion, the temples of that land (when not converted 
into churches) were given over to the ravages of the 
weather and — what was often far more disastrous — to 
those wrought by the hand of man. Until that time 
great care and loving attention had been given them, and 
it is made clear by recorded tradition, as well as other 
satisfactory evidence, that it was the constant endeavour 
of the Pharaohs to maintain the tombs in good order 
"and that is why such munificent sums were expended 
in endowing and supporting the sacerdotal colleges that 
were entrusted with the maintenance of the sacred 
buildings." Sometimes the State's income ran short, 
as was the case most conspicuously after the great inva- 
sions; those of the Hyksos, the Assyrians, the Persians, 
and others, had left the temples despoiled of almost 
everything valuable. Not infrequently, after one of 
these disasters, complete rebuilding was necessary to 
replace the edifice and properly equip it. The king, 
from his privy purse (although, to be sure, that means 
the whole of the revenue!), bore the entire burden 
of the expense, no matter whether he was a Pha- 
raoh, a Ptolemy, or a Caesar; for being considered the 



90 AFRICA TO-DAY 

descendant of the gods, it was incumbent upon him 
to preserve the abodes of his ancestors. 

Had the temples been left to themselves, even after 
the pagans had been driven from power, perhaps they 
might have got along pretty well, because of their 
solidity and the preservative climate. But when the 
Christian priests appeared, their pious zeal (and we 
cannot help stigmatising it as mistaken in too many 
instances!) led them to destroy priceless buildings with 
their contents, to deface reliefs and beautiful carvings, 
and to efface inscriptions even when such were religiously 
harmless. "At Denderah, the smoke of their camp-fires 
blackened the ceiling of the halls; at Luxor they con- 
verted the antechamber of the sanctuary into a church; 
even to this day the stucco, with which they covered 
up the scenes of the Egyptian ritual, dishonours the 
walls and conceals the reliefs of Amenophis II. Else- 
where they have copied, in red ink, passages from the 
Fathers, decrees of the councils, and entire sermons in 
Coptic language." Time and space forbid of even 
touching upon the irreparable destruction wrought by the 
followers of Mahomet, the very consummation of the 
religious fanatic and iconoclast, in the Arabian and 
Turkish invasions and since the domination of the latter. 
In passing through the streets of Cairo the observant 
traveller will see bits of stelae and fragments of reliefs, 
spoils from the old monuments of Memphis and Heli- 
opolis, worked into the masonry of mosques and 
palaces, yet still to be seen openly here and there. This 
systematic destruction continued until well down into 
modern times, because the temple of Erment, the last 



EGYPT: THE MYSTERIOUS LAND 91 

relic of the oldest Theban shrine, is known to have been 
in good condition one hundred years or so ago; but it 
was pulled down most needlessly and the materials used 
for building purposes. We cannot hold even the savants 
entirely blameless in this iconoclasm ; the earliest Egyp- 
tologists, besides helping themselves most ruthlessly, 
trained the Arabs and the Copts in the art of plundering, 
and before their rapacity was checked by official control 
incalculable damage was done. Thanks to the surprising 
co-operation of the Turkish officials with the efforts of 
American and European scientists and technologists, 
this wholesale senseless despoiling is now virtually 
suppressed. 

It can hardly be necessary to say that there are hun- 
dreds of pyramids scattered over the length and breadth 
of Egypt; but those near the west bank of the Nile, 
opposite Cairo and between the head of the Delta and 
the oases of Fayum, those of Lower Egypt, stand out 
most conspicuously, not only as a matter of fact but in 
literature, being the ones of which all think when mention 
is made of the pyramids of Egypt. They loom up in the 
dry clear air long before reaching Cairo, whether the 
visitor comes from Alexandria or from Port Said or 
Ismalia, rising from the sands that are themselves high 
above the cultivated fields of the river valley. There 
are about forty of them existing now, although many are 
quite small when compared with the " Great Pyramid," 
commonly called Cheops, built by, and the tomb of, 
Khufu, of the fourth dynasty, who lived about 2800- 
2700 B.C. or a century earlier. For a long time, even 
until the early years of the present century, it was 



92 AFRICA TO-DAY 

thought "that the beginnings of Egyptian history and 
the most ancient monuments of mankind were to be 
found about the pyramids, but the recent discovery of 
the prehistoric cemeteries and royal tombs of Abydos 
have proved the existence of the first two dynasties 
and disclosed, in broad outlines, the Thinite dynasties." 
Readers who are interested in quaint myths are recom- 
mended to read that one which tells of King Khufu's 
unfatherly scheme for replenishing his funds when he 
had exhausted his treasures in building a the first 
pyramid." 

It is evident now that the pyramidal form of these 
grand tombs was not the result of mere chance; on the 
contrary it was really an evolution from a primitive 
mode of sepulture. "The prehistoric inhabitants of 
Egypt buried their dead in pits where the body, interred 
at no great depth, was surrounded by the domestic 
vessels that were used by the deceased." Then came 
brick buildings, with the victorious race from Chaldea; 
then the jars and implements were placed in rooms 
adjoining the sepulchral chamber. This was the royal 
tomb at the beginning of the Thinite period, and slowly 
was evolved the great pyramid of "Cheops." 

The Sphinx of Ghizeh dates from probably the time 
of the second dynasty, and is now thought to be older 
than the pyramid of Ghizeh. Little need be said of 
the appearance of this ambitious work, since all are so 
familiar with "the meditative majesty of the splendid 
face," which, in spite of its being brutally mutilated, 
shows to what degree of technical skill and expressive 
power the old Egyptian artists had attained. There 




Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. 

On the Shoulder of the Great Sphinx 



EGYPT: THE MYSTERIOUS LAND 93 

are many other monuments in Egypt which belong in 
the domain of ancient history; some of the obelisks, 
the monuments to the sacred bulls of Apis, the laby- 
rinth cannot with propriety be discussed here, and yet 
all who desire to be thoroughly informed should read 
of them. 

Here is but a faint outline of what modern research, 
excavation, and restoration have done to bring back to 
us something of the mysterious land of olden time, and 
it seems as if there can be but few parts of the earth 
which hold such allurements for the tourist as does 
Egypt to-day. The opportunity to see the handiwork 
of man at the dawn of history is here furnished in temple, 
tomb, and pyramid. The ordinary tourist cannot but 
find that which holds his interest, the artist that which 
appeals to his keenest sense of form and colour, the 
archaeologist an inexhaustible fund of precious material. 
There is, however, more in Egypt than that which may 
take one away from the physical comforts of life, and 
some of these are to be the subject for our consideration 
in the next chapter. 



CHAPTER VII 

EGYPT: THE LAND WE NOW KNOW 

TO speak of Egypt in its aspect of To-day, we ought 
to commence with the climate. It is never 
intensely hot, although this statement may be surprising 
to those who think of "Afric's golden sands"; yet it 
should be borne in mind that Egypt lies between 21 
and 3 2 north latitude, and that very little of it is really 
within the tropics. It is always warm, and the first part 
of the summer is too trying for those not acclimated 
to justify recommending strangers to visit Egypt at that 
season. Still, we do know that many Americans and 
Europeans, those who are not accustomed at home to 
intense and continued heat, have passed the summer 
in the land and without serious results, save in the 
few exceptional cases. Those who have done this are 
merchants, industrialists, missionaries, and the students 
engaged in research, excavation, restoration of temples 
and monuments, or kindred pursuits in the cause of 
science that are associated in our mind with the word 
" Egyptology," and to their successes we owe practi- 
cally all that there is of Egypt To-day. The Egyptians 
themselves speak of two summers; the first includes the 
months of March, April, and May, and it is the most 
undesirable and sickly season, because of the changeable 
weather, the heat, and the hot winds which prevail at 

94 



EGYPT*. THE LAND WE NOW KNOW 95 

that time and are liable to cause various sicknesses. 
But in the " second summer," June, July, and August, 
and during the autumn and winter, one breathes a 
much cooler air, the weather is more settled, and it is 
then really delightful to be in the country; yet strangers 
should be careful about incautious wanderings in the 
Nile Valley when the water of the inundation has been 
drawn off and the mud is drying up. The cold of winter 
is hardly entitled to the name, except for about seven 
days in the month of February, which the Arabs mark 
off very precisely, seventh to fourteenth, and call them 
Berd at ajuz, "The old woman's cold." Yet among the 
permanent residents, both foreigners and natives, and 
many of the transient visitors, those who are even tolerably 
rich wear furs in winter, because of the uncertainty of 
the weather. We are all familiar with the phrase, "the 
cloudless blue skies of Egypt," and there is thoroughly 
good reason for it. There are but few places where rain 
is known at all, and even where it is, it is a phenomenon 
that is distinguished as being something which happens 
once a year or as occurring perhaps once in three or 
four years. Asthmatic people would do well to shun 
Egypt at all times, because the fine particles of sand, 
ever present in the air, are very irritating to the throat. 
Pulmonary patients, on the other hand, almost secure 
a new lease of life in the desiccated air, and when they 
can get comfortable quarters right away in the desert, 
it is safe to recommend them to go there. With increase 
of travel and with the encouragement that is making 
the natives more tolerant towards strangers of another 
faith and more friendly generally, it is yearly becoming 



96 AFRICA TO-DAY 

easier for invalids to find comfortable lodgings, and there 
is always at their command that most seductive tent 
life. For the strong, the enthusiastic, Egypt is perhaps 
the most charming of all Winter Playgrounds, provided 
the more strenuous activity of such places as the Winter 
Tyrol does not appeal to them. 

"He who hath not seen Cairo hath not seen the world: 
its soil is gold; its Nile is a wonder; its women are like 
the black-eyed virgins of Paradise; its houses are palaces; 
and its air is soft — its odours surpassing that of aloes- 
wood and cheering the heart: how can Cairo be other- 
wise when it is the Mother of the World?"* We are 
prepared to subscribe to all this, excepting the odours; 
there are some of these, in many parts of the old town 
especially, which are anything but those of "Araby the 
Blest." Of the women another writer, an Englishman 
whose statement is apposite, even if it is now more than 
a hundred years old, said: " Before we take leave of this 
Egyptian Metropolis [Cairo], we shall beg leave to add 
a few observations concerning the Fair Sex that live in it. 
The generality of them are brought thither by the Cara- 
vans either from Georgia, Mengrelia, or other places, 
where the unnatural parents make a trade of selling them, 
and where they are commonly very beautiful and finely 
shaped; and others drawn from Abyssinia, where though 
they are of a very tawney complexion, yet are so slender, 
tall, and genteel, and have such a majestic air, as quite 
captivates the men here, and makes them despise their 
own native women for them. And as those foreign 
females have commonly little or no education, are bought 
* "The Thousand and One Nights." 



EGYPT: THE LAND WE NOW KNOW 97 

and kept only as servile creatures, rather to cool their 
lust than engage their affections, it can be no wonder if, 
considering their idle life, the heat of the climate, and 
the small satisfaction they receive from the embraces 
of their lords and masters, which must be likewise less 
frequent than their wishes, considering the number they 
have of them for the same use, we say it is not to be 
wondered at, if they naturally give way to gallantry 
and intriguing, and are so ingenious and successful in it. 
They have, however, found the way to gain so far on 
their husbands, that they are allowed greater liberty 
both in this Metropolis and almost all over the kingdom, 
than in any part of the East ; so that they can go abroad 
a visiting from morning to night; divert themselves with 
their relatives and acquaintances, walk along the streets 
with a retinue of their servants, and appear at public 
places, and on public rejoicings, such as the birth of a 
Prince, the gaining of a Victory, etc., on which occasions 
they take special delight. They wear a variety of dresses 
and the appearance of the scene is not unlike that of 
Venice at the Carnival time. They are attended by 
eunuchs and good order is kept; there being no indecency 
or affront in the streets; but they elude their guards and 
allow themselves greater liberties than any Turkish 
women. Unmarried women must be very careful, for 
any immodesty on their part condemns them to celibacy, 
or it may even be punishment with death. Married 
women are more freed from restraint, and not only 
indulge in these dangerous but stolen pleasures as in no 
other Mahometan country; but, as Lucas tells, they 
visit each other, drink coffee, sherbet, and such liquors, 



98 AFRICA TO-DAY 

smoke, and tell erotic stories, until the effect leads to 
showing themselves at the windows, where they act 
lecher ously to tempt beholders."* 

This naturally leads to mention of the dancing-girls, 
who have the reputation of being the most consummate 
of their kind. Their posturings range from that which 
is the simplest, most innocuous pantomime to sug- 
gestiveness that is positively indecent. These girls 
are wanton, but not necessarily immoral; they are about 
the same as the geisha of Japan, only the Egyptians are 
so much the superior in grace, abandon, and physical 
attractiveness that there is no exact comparison to be 
made between them. Those who have seen these profes- 
sional posseuses in all parts of the world unanimously 
award the palm to the Egyptians. 

Out in the country, where one sees those who are the 
nearest to the true Egyptians to be found, the men and 
women are stout and tawny. The men are labourers 
engaged in agriculture and in rearing cattle. It seems 
almost unnecessary here to dwell upon the marvellous 
fertility of the Nile Valley, where never less than two 
crops are garnered and often three and four. This 
fecundity is so absolutely dependent upon the annual 
overflow of the Nile that it seems proper to defer our 
little discussion of it to the next chapter, which is to deal 
specifically with that river. There is, however, one super- 
stition connected with the overflow that should properly 
be mentioned; it is that the Egyptian peasants affirm 
most positively that nine-tenths of the married women 
conceive only at the time when the Nile water is rising 
*"A Complete System of Geography," etc. 



EGYPT: THE LAND WE NOW KNOW 99 

and spreading over the land, bringing with it promise 
of plenty and making all hearts rejoice. These peasant 
women often give birth to twins, and not infrequently 
triplets. They are noted for their grand walk and 
carriage; some of our own writers making comparison 
between their stride and the "strut" of the American 
girl. Even if true, this is most ungallant! 

It is said, and truthfully, that at Alexandria, Port 
Said, and Cairo one sees a greater mixture of peoples 
from all corners of the world than in any other three 
places of one and the same country on earth. London, 
doubtless, will show a more motley collection and a 
greater number of certain types in one place. But in 
the winter season, one who stands on the verandah or 
terrace of a hotel in Cairo will hear almost every lan- 
guage of Europe, Asia, and Africa. It is, probably, the 
most kaleidoscopic place of the Near East, and, in a way, 
one of the most democratic. The crowd of guides and 
donkey boys, the camel drivers, the hackney cabmen, 
and now the chauffeurs, assume that all the tourists 
are simply walking money-bags and that it is their 
privilege and duty to get as much of the contents as 
possible. Milord, the aristocratic British nobleman, and 
the plebeian American multi-millionaire are pretty much 
the same to hotel people, guide, and donkey boy; with 
perhaps a little in favour of the American who, in Egypt 
as everywhere else in the world where tourists foregather, 
has tried his best — and most successfully — to spoil 
pleasure and debauch the natives by the absurd munifi- 
cence of his "tips." For example; at the pyramids, 
where — as everyone knows — if it is not absolutely 



IOO AFRICA TO-DAY 

necessary for each climber to have two or three "pushers " 
to help him get up the Brobdingnagean steps, custom 
has decided that he must engage them or he will not be 
allowed to ascend, half a piastre, say two and one-half 
cents of our money, ought to be ample for each man; 
but the extravagant American has raised this to two or 
three piastres. 

There may be a certain exclusiveness among the 
visitors themselves, yet it is astonishing how the most 
seemingly incongruous human elements mingle at Cairo 
in placid content. The Cook's parties are made up, at 
times, of people who represent the most unapproachable 
of aristocratic circles, with others who are most 
offensively nouveau riche; and after a day's jaunt to 
the pyramids these same oil and vinegar factors may, 
perchance, mingle together in temporary harmony for 
a trip up the Nile, or some other excursion wherein 
there is greater satisfaction (and economy for the 
cautious aristocrat!) with a goodly company than for an 
individual or two. 

In Cairo itself there is so much to do, so many places 
to visit that every book discloses something which is 
not named in others, and even the rashest of writers 
would not presume to tell of all of them in such a little 
volume "as this. Only a very few will be mentioned, but 
every tourist will find each one of them leads to others, 
until a whole winter season will prove to be too short 
a time wherein to exhaust the attractions of Cairo. 

After the pyramids and the Sphinx — for that is 
almost sure to be the first excursion — a visit to the 
National Museum, sometimes called the Ghizeh Museum, 



EGYPT: THE LAND WE NOW KNOW IOI 

because it was once the palace of Ghizeh, the old Harem- 
lik (" Palace of the Harem") of Ismail Pasha, will be 
attractive, and here the wealth of material is truly 
indescribable. There is a black granite stele which was 
discovered at Thebes in 1896 by Professor Flinders- 
Petrie. It is what may be called a stone palimpsest, 
because there were manifestly two inscriptions cut, as 
the signs of erasure show, the one over the other. The 
earlier was done in the time of Amenhotep II (reigned 
about 1566 B.C.); the later one was cut in the time of 
Seti I, or Sethos (about 1366 B.C.), who was the father 
of Rameses II. The latter is of the greatest importance 
to Bible students, because on the back of the stone there 
is a long description of wars waged between Libyans 
(Egyptians) and Syrians, in which this statement is 
made: "The people of Israel is spoilt: it hath no seed." 
This is the first allusion to the Israelites, by name, found 
as yet on any Egyptian monument, and is several cen- 
turies older than any allusion to them in Assyrian records.* 
As the sale of Joseph is traditionally said to have taken 
place during the reign of the Hyksos or shepherd king 
Apepa, probably the Aphobis of Manetho's list, who 
ruled at Avaris (Zoan) about 1700 B.C., this allusion 
may perchance refer to the fact that the children of Israel 
had been called upon to aid the Egyptians in war and 
had proved to be inefficient as soldiers, or possibly abject 
cowards. The Exodus is usually assigned to the time 
of Rameses II (1300 B.C.). 

In 1 88 1 rumours reached the authorities in Cairo that 
an Arab, known among his fellows as "The Tomb 

* Vide Murray's " Handbook to Egypt." 



102 AFRICA TO-DAY 

Robber," because of his successes in abstracting treasures, 
was up to some sort of mischief at Deir-el-Bahri, west 
of Thebes. Upon investigation being made it was found 
that Ahmed, "The Tomb Robber," had opened a shaft 
leading down into a vast mortuary chapel and had played 
upon the superstition of his comrades, to keep them 
from intruding upon his find, by declaring that the well 
was the abode of a fearful djinn (an evil spirit). To 
give colour and odour to his story he had thrown into 
the shaft the bodies of some donkeys, and the effluvia 
from their decomposition made the other Arabs believe 
Ahmed's story, for djinns are supposed to exhale a most 
disgusting stench. When Messrs. Brugsch and Maspero 
went to the place they discovered thirty-six coffins, all of 
them containing the mummies of kings, queens, princes, 
and princesses. Brugsch's account of this find is most 
sensational. The mummies were all taken away for 
careful study, and to-day, in the National Museum, we 
may see some of them. One is of particular interest, 
that of Rameses II, whose father, Seti I, is the Pharaoh 
with whom Moses and Aaron had so much to do. It was 
due to his opposition to the departure of the Children of 
Israel that the plagues came, and it was he who com- 
manded that all Hebrew boy babies should be drowned 
in the Nile. His mummy is one of the most remarkably 
well preserved that have yet been discovered. 

When a number of mummies were to be sent to muse- 
ums of Europe and America, they were put on board a 
large lighter in the river and arranged side by side. As 
the boat was moving away from the bank many — per- 
haps all — of the mummies seemed to come back to life; 



EGYPT: THE LAND WE NOW KNOW 103 

certainly they moved and the heads seemed to rise as if 
the bodies were turning, so that their eyes might take a 
last look at the place where these old kings and queens 
had lain in peace for over two thousand years. The 
effect upon the boatmen was most panicky, and even the 
unsuperstitious foreigners felt as if something uncanny 
were occurring. The explanation is absurdly simple — 
the heat of the sun had caused irregular expansion of 
certain parts; but it was never a satisfactory explana- 
tion to those Nile boatmen, who were for a long time 
loath to handle mummies as cargo. 

At the risk, which in this case practically is certainty, 
of controverting one of the most popular stories of sight- 
seeing in Cairo, the truth had better be told about 
the famous ceremony which is called, commonly but 
absurdly, "The Procession of the Holy Carpet." There 
is much confusion about this, and to clear it up requires 
a little careful explanation. The kaba (Arabic; literally 
"a square building") is the small block-like structure at 
the very heart of the Great Mosque, Mecca, the most 
sacred shrine of the followers of the Prophet. In this 
chest-like sanctuary is a sacred stone, hajar al aswud 
(said to be a ruby which came down from heaven, but 
now it is blackened by the pilgrims' tears, shed for sin). 
The kaba is opened twice or thrice annually, but only 
the faithful are permitted to approach it. Now, when 
the caravan of pilgrims for Mecca sets out from Cairo, 
in it is a small palanquin on the back of a camel. This 
palanquin is called mahmal. It contains nothing of the 
least importance, probably nothing at all, and is only a 
symbol of sovereignty. But many Frankish visitors think 



104 AFRICA TO-DAY 

— indeed they are so told by some of the citizens — 
that this little box contains the kiswa, or robe, which is 
spread over the ka'ba, and which is renewed every year. 
This is manifestly an absurdity, for the mahmal could 
not begin to contain the kiswa. The procession that is 
miscalled "The Procession of the Holy Carpet" — for it 
is evident there is no carpet about it — is really a street 
ceremony in which the kiswa is carried from the place 
where the material is woven to the Hasanen, the most 
sacred mosque in the city, there to be sewed together 
into sections which are packed in ordinary boxes to take 
it to Mecca. Still this procession, after its description 
has been despoiled of some of its romantic fiction, is 
certainly one of the things to see, if possible. "I was 
privileged to see it from the balcony of a native school 
that looked out on the corner of two streets. In one 
direction we looked down the street through which the 
procession came; in the other down the street to that 
very sacred mosque of the Hasanen itself. . . . Down 
the street, then, came the kiswa, carried on wooden 
frames to show its embroidery of rich gold flashing in 
the sunlight, and with it and after it trooped a motley 
procession of darwishes of all the different fraternities of 
Egypt — the Qadirites, the Rifa'ites, the Ahmadites, the 
Burhamites, the Sa'dites — all carrying banners of their 
own colours, beating little drums, and chanting their 
distinctive litanies. As they went by, the air was 
charged with emotional electricity; all nerves were 
a-quiver and ready to leap to a signal. Here, as time 
and again thereafter at Muslim religious scenes, I felt 
the grip of the will of the crowd, and knew practically 




Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. 

Coffee Picking in British East Africa 



EGYPT: THE LAND WE NOW KNOW 105 

how slight a touch may turn and sweep a great concourse 
into a simultaneous brain-storm."* Let us add that the 
stranger who is permitted to witness one of these func- 
tions must bear himself respectfully and refrain from 
disparaging remarks, even in the English tongue. 

Rhamadan is the name given to the ninth month of 
the Mahometan year, and if perchance it falls in winter, 
the tourist season, the visitor is to be congratulated and 
he should try to be in the streets at nightfall of the 
first day, especially. Every Moslem knows just when 
Rhamadan, the great "fast" month, is to begin, even 
if the lunar calendar (unlike the Chinese calendar) is 
without any intercalary month in Mahometan communi- 
ties to adjust occasionally, although only approximately, 
the divergence from the Gregorian. But the crescent 
moon must be seen by the "astronomer royal" at Con- 
stantinople and the fact telegraphed to Cairo (note the 
strange commingling of mediaeval chronology and modern 
science!) before the cannon on the citadel can announce 
that the celebration may officially begin. This same 
fact of the new moon being seen at Constantinople must 
be notified to all parts of the Mahometan world that are 
accessible by telegraph. What happens when clouds 
obscure the Constantinople official's vision, deponent 
sayeth not! Every good Mussulman keeps strict fast 
during the daytime of the whole of Rhamadan, even 
abstaining from tobacco; and the careless will observe 
that first day, even if they are not very strict on the 
others of the great fast. But after sunset the fast 
gives place to feasting and jollification that are almost 

* "Aspects of Islam," D. B. Macdonald, 



io6 



AFRICA TO-DAY 



riotous, and then all places of entertainment are gaiety 
itself. 




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This is the favourite song of the dervishes during 
Rhamadan (although popular at all times). It is called 
a zikr, and is sung by a group of perhaps thirty, more or 
less, seated in a circle. At first the tempo is slow and the 
swaying of the bodies, backward and forward, from side 
to side, is in time to the chant. Gradually the move- 
ment quickens and erelong passes into wild frenzy; not 
unfrequently some of the singers collapse in an epileptic 
fit. The general effect of the song and action is said to 
be strangely erotic. 

If the opportunity offers, the visitor is recommended 
to see a marriage procession and a Mussulman funeral, 
with its attendant " professional mourners," whose 
vociferous lamentations, but perfunctory to the verge of 
the ridiculous, often relieve the sorrow of those whom 
we should expect truly to lament, so that the " bereaved" 
friends appear to be rather joyous in their indifference. 
The so-called " Howling Dervishes" have come to be 
so very professional that they are found to be rather 
a fake. "On the birthday of the Prophet, for example, 
there is a great festival in Cairo, and on the plain, outside 
of the city to the north, tents are erected in which the 



EGYPT: THE LAND WE NOW KNOW 107 

different darwish fraternities hold exhibitions. For this 
reason, inasmuch as they are perfectly open to the public 
and inasmuch as the public passes along from one to 
another, taking up stall after stall, the solemnity and 
religious reality were greatly impaired. It was evident 
to me what must have been the effect on those zikrs 
when tourists were freely admitted." * But let the 
unwary tourist be careful of the perfume sellers, who can 
cleverly palm off the poorest compounds as genuine 
"attar of roses," and let him shun the itinerant hawker 
of antiques, rugs, etc. ; even the alleged reputable dealers 
are scarcely trustworthy. 

If the traveller must of necessity turn to the new town 
for the physical comforts which only a properly con- 
ducted " European" hotel can furnish, it is to the old 
quarters that he will have to go for real fascination. 
At one place he may run across a fortified gateway, at 
another a dilapidated mosque bearing a text from the 
Koran in the quaint old Curie characters, and each has 
its history. Perhaps it will be something which, when 
translated by the. guide (if, fortunately yet exceptionally, 
he is competent to do this), may recall the story of Sala- 
dhin as he went forth from El-Kahira (Macira-el-Qahira 
is the true Arabic name for Cairo) to meet Richard and 
his crusaders on the plains of Acre; or there is pretty 
sure to be some episode that will bring to mind the good 
Haroun-al-Rashid, who has just arrived from Bagdad 
and is stealthily pursuing his midnight rambles. 

The tourist is likely to take at least one trip down the 
Nile, two or three miles, to see the place where Napoleon 
* D. B. Macdonald, op. cit. 



Io8 AFRICA TO-DAY 

and his army, near the Embabeh end of the railway 
bridge on the Alexandria line, won the "Battle of the 
Pyramids"; his European tactics, of infantry hollow 
squares receiving sternly and invincibly the wild cavalry 
charges at the point of the bayonet, completely baffling 
the Mamelukes. This visit will probably lead the visitor 
to recall the fact that it was Napoleon's success which 
led to the beginnings of modern Egyptian research. 
Or there is another trip, into the Land of Goshen, 
where the Children of Israel so long sojourned, which 
will appeal with special force to the biblical student. 
What an infinity of possibilities for every class of visitors 
does Cairo offer! Alexandria and Cairo were the seat 
of learning, the nursery of arts and sciences from which 
Greece and other northern lands received them, and 
Egypt was likewise the granary of the world. It is 
certain that the plenty or scarcity of the Roman Empire 
depended upon a good or a bad harvest in Egypt. Its 
favourable situation for commerce, fronting the Medi- 
terranean and bordering on the Red Sea, will again — 
and perhaps before long — reassert itself. 

The temptation to dwell upon some political aspects 
of Egypt to-day must be resisted, for already this 
chapter is too long and we should now be journeying 
up the Nile. But we cannot refrain from saying that 
since France withdrew, in 1883, from sharing with Great 
Britain in the control of Egyptian finances and govern- 
ment, Egypt has been, in every respect save the name 
alone, a dependency of Great Britain; and since France 
has been seeking the consent of other European Powers 
to her exercise of controlling rights in Morocco, the 



EGYPT: THE LAND WE NOW KNOW 109 

Sahara, etc., this British suzerainty has been more effec- 
tive than ever. It cannot truthfully be denied that it 
is for the good of the whole world that this is so. If the 
Young Turks' ambitions take the course of attempting 
to wrest from Great Britain this control, it will surely 
bring about nothing but disaster. 



CHAPTER VIII 

TEE NILE: HISTORICAL, LEGENDARY, 
PICTURESQUE 

IT would seem, at first glance, as if the discovery of 
the Nile's sources in Victoria Nyanza and Albert 
Nyanza had solved the mystery of ages and proved 
that Egypt is not dependent solely upon the irrigation 
that naturally follows the rise in the river from rainfall 
alone. It is quite true that "the Nile is the Life of 
Egypt," but if the stream were entirely unaided by the 
art of man — in conserving the supply, constructing 
feed canals, etc. — it would never sufficiently overflow 
its banks to inundate (without destructive floods), and 
by that same reasonable inundation fertilise the whole 
of the arable land in the valley and in the Delta. The 
two great rivers from Abyssinia are the Blue Nile and 
the Atbara (called by the natives Bahr-el-Aswad, "Black 
Nile") which, although streams of great size while in the 
mountains and highlands of Abyssinia, are reduced to 
insignificance from the middle of June until September, 
or during the dry months. Then, the water supply 
from Abyssinia having ceased, Egypt is dependent 
entirely upon the equatorial lakes and the affluents of the 
White Nile until the rainy season again fills the Abys- 
sinian rivers; so that it is, as a matter of fact, these rivers 
which contribute to the visitor's pleasure. 

no 



THE NILE: HISTORICALLY III 

The Nile overflow is not only remarkably regular in 
its annual occurrence as a means of irrigation, but the 
deposit of mud which it spreads over the fields so enriches 
the soil that artificial fertilisation is rarely resorted to. 
Baker, the great discoverer who solved "the mystery 
of ages," happily describes the joint action of the rivers 
thus: "The equatorial lakes feed Egypt, but the Abys- 
sinian rivers cause the inundation." 

Erastosthenes' description of the Nile is not a bad 
one to insert here. Briefly, he says that this river is 
distant from the Arabian Gulf (Red Sea) towards the 
west one thousand stadia * and resembles the letter N 
reversed. For after flowing twenty-seven hundred stadia 
from Meroe, later the capital of Ethiopia, it turns south 
and to the winter sunset, when it is almost in the lati- 
tude of the places about Meroe, thus entering far into 
Africa; and having made another bend, it flows towards 
the north a distance of fifty-three hundred stadia, to the 
great cataract; and inchning a little to the east traverses 
a distance of twelve hundred stadia to the smaller cata- 
ract of Syene (Assouan), and thence fifty- three hundred 
stadia to the sea. The figures which deal with the 
river's length are palpably mistakes; for it has been 
agreed generally that day's marches were converted into 
stadia; but the directions are fairly accurate and indi- 
cate that the Nile was looked upon as a mighty river. 

At the point of the Delta, just north of Cairo, it was 
intended to construct a barrage which, by crossing 

* Erastosthenes' stadium was, roughly, five hundred and twenty 
English feet, and the part of the Nile that he probably knew is about 
ninety miles, at an average, from the Red Sea. 



112 AFRICA TO-DAY 

both branches of the river, was to regulate the inunda- 
tion above and below that point; but this has been 
supplanted by the great dam at Assouan and the elabo- 
ration of the system of distributing canals. And here 
it is, perhaps, well just to mention the tremendous 
undertaking that has been accomplished by British 
engineers, although anything like a full description would 
be out of place, since it would take too much space and 
for such a technical matter reference should be had to 
the work of a specialist. Yet something may be said 
of the old, native, very crude way of watching and, to 
a certain extent, regulating the overflow of the country. 
The ancient writers tell us, and their accounts have 
been remarkably verified by later, scientific observers, 
that the river commenced to rise in May, but that not 
much attention was paid to the rise until somewhere 
about the end of June, or just after the summer solstice. 
We may interpolate here that Egyptians superstitiously 
connected the Sphinx with the Nile's overflow, because 
those great figures (particularly that one near the pyra- 
mids of Ghizeh), with the head of a woman and the 
body of a lion, symbolised the time when the sun passes 
through the constellations Virgo and Leo, thus marking 
the swelling of the Nile as occurring at the season for 
which the Sphinx seemed to stand. 

In very ancient times the rise was watched by means 
of pits or wells sunk at places sufficiently near the river- 
bank to make sure that the percolation of water would 
be free. Later, more elaborate nilometers were con- 
structed; one of these was a large reservoir in a castle 
right on the bank. Round this reservoir was a hand- 




Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. 

The Great Dam across the Nile at Assuan, Egypt 
The most gigantic masonry of modern times 



THE NILE: HISTORICALLY II3 

some gallery, supported by twelve marble pillars, joined 
at their tops in such a way as to form arches. There 
was a balustrade on the inner side of the gallery to lean 
on when looking down at the water, which entered the 
reservoir and passed out through a canal cut down from 
the river. In the centre of the basin was an octagonal 
marble shaft divided into twenty-four equal sections, 
and each section (save one) marked off into small spaces 
of a few inches each. When the water had risen to some 
sixteen or eighteen feet in depth, public criers proclaimed 
the fact through the capital and other cities and con- 
tinued their proclamations until the water had risen to 
about twenty-five feet or a little more (although even 
a little over, say twenty-seven feet, was approaching the 
danger point), when preparations were made to cut the 
dam of the Khalii, or great canal at Bulak, which passed 
through the heart of Cairo, during low water being 
little better than a stinking cesspool. This cutting 
of the dam was an important ceremony inasmuch as 
it presaged the irrigation and fertilisation of the whole 
agricultural districts, and it was always performed with 
great solemnity in the presence of the Governor (Pasha), 
accompanied by all his high officials, and attended by a 
vast throng of people. 

We are told that, long ago, the Egyptians would, at 
this ceremony, sacrifice a girl, or as others say a boy and 
a girl, to the river god as a thank offering for the benefit 
he was about to confer upon them. They were even- 
tually persuaded to give up this inhuman practice. But 
legend has it that the very year the cruel sacrifice was 
discontinued the river failed to reach the proper height, 



114 AFRICA TO-DAY 

and when it seemed as if this misfortune were going to 
occur a second time, that is in the following year because 
the overflow was delayed, the people began to murmur 
and call for a resumption of the human sacrifice, fearing 
a famine. The governor thereupon led all the men of 
the city, Arabs, Turks, Jews, Christians, to a mountain 
east of the city, and after a pathetic exhortation he bade 
them all pray to their common God to grant His mercy, 
and in this intercession they passed all that day and the 
succeeding night. Before daybreak the next morning 
some women came hurrying from the town to the moun- 
tain top bringing the glad news that the Nile had risen 
thirteen feet during the night and was still rising. 
Greatly rejoicing and uniting in thanks to God for thus 
promptly and acceptably answering their prayers, the 
multitude came hastily down the mountain, and when 
they reached the bank of the Khalii canal, they built 
there an altar ten feet high on which they heaped flowers 
and olive branches as a thank offering. This was re- 
peated year after year, and when the dam was broken 
down, the rush of water carried altar and flowers away 
to the sea. 

The absolute importance of the Nile overflow is so 
fully recognised that every appliance of science to secure 
an equable distribution of the water was adopted as 
civilisation developed and learning broadened, and to- 
day there is nothing within the ken of specialists that is 
not done to further and extend this blessing which the 
"Life of Egypt" brings to the Egyptians, as the tourist 
will admit when he sees at Assouan the result of engineers' 
efforts to " harness the Nile." The appointment of 



THE NILE: HISTORICALLY 115 

Field Marshal Lord Kitchener — Kitchener of Khartum 
— to be British agent ensures the broadening and 
strengthening of Great Britain's influence (we might 
really as well say control) in Egypt, and his appreciation 
of the fundamental necessity for wisdom in controlling 
the Nile overflow is an assurance that the great under- 
taking will be duly administered. What is more, 
although outside the scope of this chapter and in antici- 
pation of what will be said in Chapter XVII, his views 
as to the importance of completing the Cape to Cairo 
Railway promise a speedy extension of that work, 
until North and South Africa are linked together by 
a steel band. 

Beginning an account of the Nile at the broad base 
of the Delta, where its many streams debouch into the 
Mediterranean, there are the two great branches, the 
Rosetta and the Damietta, which take their names from 
the important cities at their respective mouths. From 
these main stems a great many smaller streams and 
canals meander across the level country to the east of 
Damietta, to the west of Rosetta, and all over the Delta 
between these two arms of the Nile. But Alexandria 
itself is not on any stream, for it stands on a sandy shelf 
inside of which is the body of water — now salt, but 
originally fresh — called Lake Mariut; yet Alexandria 
is connected with the Nile by the Mahmoodeyeh canal 
from the Rosetta River. This was dug by Mehemet 
AH in the first half of the nineteenth century. As an 
example of crass stupidity, the ultimate effect of the act 
recoiling upon the perpetrators, it may be told here that 
in 1 801 the British thought to cut off Alexandria's 



Il6 AFRICA TO-DAY 

supply of fresh water by severing the narrow neck which 
separated Lake Mariut (or Mareotis) from the sea. The 
plan was futile, for the sea flowed in and submerged one 
hundred thousand acres of arable land, many human lives 
were lost, and forty villages destroyed, while the cli- 
mate of Alexandria was prejudicially affected to the dis- 
comfiture of the British when they eventually acquired 
preponderating influence. Now, with the irony of fate, 
English pumps, operated by a staff of English engineers, 
but paid from the Egyptian treasury, are kept busy 
returning one and a half million tons of salt water back 
into the Mediterranean each day, and the damage 
wrought a century ago is irreparable. 

When approaching Alexandria, the light-house on 
the island of Pharos attracts attention because it is the 
modern successor of the " Pharos" of antiquity, prob- 
ably the first lighthouse ever erected for the specific 
purpose of being a guide to mariners. The original 
was built by Ptolemy I, Soter, and Ptolemy II, Phila- 
delphus, in the third century B.C. and was one of the 
Seven Wonders of the World. There formerly stood 
at Alexandria two objects of considerable historic 
interest. These were the two obelisks of pink granite, 
known as "Cleopatra's Needles," which were brought 
from Heliopolis (modern Matarieh, on the Pelusiac 
branch of the Nile, latitude 30 8' N.), a distance 
considerably greater than from Cairo, and a more diffi- 
cult journey. One of the " Needles" is now on the 
Thames embankment, London, and the other is in Central 
Park, New York. Another object of interest is the 
beautiful Corinthian column, ninety-nine feet tall, which 



THE NILE: HISTORICALLY 117 

bears the fanciful name of "Pompey's Pillar" (because 
Pompey had nothing whatever to do with it). It bears 
an inscription stating that it was erected in 302 a.d. 
in honour of Diocletian. Before leaving Alexandria we 
should commend the wisdom of Alexander the Macedonian 
in selecting this site for a harbour, west of the Nile 
mouths, because the current sets along the coast from 
west to east and carries the silt away from Alexandria, 
as has been demonstrated in the case of Port Said, where 
an enormous training-wall is not sufficient to obviate 
the constant use of dredgers. 

Along the coast, east of Alexandria, the first place of 
importance is Rasheed, called by foreigners Rosetta. 
It would seem to be the natural deep-sea port for Egypt, 
but it has been successfully supplanted by Alexandria, 
and since the opening of the Suez Canal, Port Said and 
Ismalia have still further affected it. But we must not 
forget to mention the providential Rosetta stone. "The 
name is given to a stone now in the British Museum, 
originally found by French soldiers who were digging 
near the Rosetta mouth of the Nile. It is a piece of 
black basalt and contains part of three equivalent 
inscriptions, the first or highest in hieroglyphics, the 
second in demotic characters, and the third in Greek. 
According to these inscriptions, the stone was erected in 
honour of Ptolemy Epiphanes, March 27, B.C. 196. 
This stone is famous as having furnished to Young and 
Champollion the first key to the interpretation of Egyp- 
tian hieroglyphics. In its present broken condition it 
measures three feet nine inches in height, two feet four 
and a half inches in width, and eleven inches in thick- 



Il8 AFRICA TO-DAY 

ness." * The story of the discovery, the casual first 
treatment, the subsequent intense and close study from 
the known Greek back to the form of writing which was 
popular with the common people, the demotic in contra- 
distinction to the hieratic (sacred), and from this back 
into the realm of the hieroglyphics, until then almost a 
sealed book, is intensely interesting. 

Along the course of the Rosetta, in the Delta proper, 
and on the banks of the Damietta, there are many 
places of great interest to the historian and archaeologist, 
but hardly likely to attract the ordinary tourist, although 
all would be repaid by a visit to the town of Damietta 
itself and to El-Mansoorah, to the south of which are 
the remains of a remarkable temple to the goddess Isis. 
This was built of granite brought from Syene (modern 
Assouan) a distance of six hundred miles up the river. 
This fact, taken in connection with the further one of 
the extreme difficulty those old stonecutters and masons 
must have had in working such hard material, justify the 
statement that this was probably one of the most costly 
temples in all Egypt. Southward from Damietta and 
east of the river are the ruins of a large temple which 
was built of red granite. Here was held the festival of 
the goddess Bast or Pasht (Greek Bubastis), whose 
sacred animal was the cat. Herodotus considered this 
festival the most important of the Egyptian ceremonies. 

Cairo is, of course, the point of departure for the trip 
up the Nile, and there are several ways of doing it. For 
the tourist who is limited as to time, or somewhat re- 
stricted in the matter of expenditure, there is the railway 

* Century Dictionary. 



THE NILE: HISTORICALLY 119 

to Assouan, the head of comfortable navigation, and, for 
the present, the end of the railway ; for between Assouan 
and Wady Haifa the mountains close in upon the river 
and make railway construction somewhat difficult. 
It is, however, quite possible to cover the intervening 
distance by boat, so that the tourist may, if he likes, go 
on to Wady Haifa and there take the train again for 
Khartum, thus passing out of Egypt into Nubia. By 
taking the railway and stopping over at Karnak, to visit 
Thebes and Luxor, the traveller will get a satisfactory 
idea of the Nile Valley and a glimpse at some of the 
most celebrated ruins, and at Assouan he may decide 
for himself how much more he will do. Thebes, called 
afterwards Diospolis Magna, or the City of Jupiter, 
once stood on both sides of the river, although the city 
proper was that part on the east bank, the Libyan suburb 
(Pathyris, Memnonia) being on the west bank. The 
village of Luxor, rich in archaeological " finds," as has 
been already indicated, now occupies a part of the site 
of Thebes. The city was deservedly esteemed to be one 
of the finest in the world. Homer speaks of it as Heca- 
tomplos, because of its hundred gates ; other authorities 
declare there were not that many gates in the city wall, 
but that there were many temples within the city limits, 
that most of them had large porches entered through 
sumptuous gateways, and these gave rise to the use of 
that form of expression which employs a definite number 
in an indefinite sense. 

At Assouan the first cataract ends. It was not a very 
formidable obstruction to navigation, and during high 
water could be ascended without much trouble in the 



120 AFRICA TO-DAY 

ordinary river boats; when the river was low consider- 
able assistance from towers was necessary. Since the 
construction of the great dam, a canal sixty-five hundred 
and forty feet long, with four locks, permits mail steamers 
and other vessels to pass round the cataract at all times. 
Some of the earliest travellers in Egypt tell of what they 
thought was a surprising spectacle, and it may possibly 
still be witnessed at the upper cataracts if one cares to 
see it. Two of the natives would get into a small boat, 
one to guide and the other to bale out the water that 
dashed over the gunwale. Having borne the violence 
of the tossing waters for some time, they would dexter- 
ously steer the boat through the narrow channels, avoid- 
ing the rocks in a breath-taking way, and let themselves 
be carried down by the falling waters, directing the little 
vessel with their hands, rushing headlong, and plunging 
over the brink to the great terror of the spectators, who 
thought them utterly lost and swallowed up. They 
appeared again on the water below the cataract, far 
from the place where they fell, as if they had been shot 
out of a gun.* 

For those tourists who are not hampered, either by 
time or purse, there are the Nile River steamboats, 
wherein comfort and luxury are pleasingly combined 
and, all things considered, at not exceedingly great 
expense. However, there is often the objection raised to 
this mode of travel that the "guide" describes, in the 
truly characteristic, parrot-like manner of his kind, 
the places that are visited or passed, and tells their 
history in a way that too frequently conflicts with the 
* Adapted from " An Universal History." 



THE NILE! HISTORICALLY 121 

narrative given by recognised authorities. This is to be 
expected. 

The ideal way to make the Nile trip, extended on to 
and beyond Khartum, is still by private (that is, hired) 
dahabeeyah — excepting, of course, the private steam- 
yacht; although this latter is not to be too highly recom- 
mended because of difficulties that are raised by officials 
tied up into hard, unyielding knots by yards of red tape, 
and the not unnatural opposition of steamboat com- 
panies and proprietors of dahabeeyahs, who feel their 
prerogatives intruded upon. The following sketch of 
the trip is compiled from various sources and is con- 
densed to suit those who have leisure and desire to see 
from their own boat ; although much that is said applies 
equally well to those who travel by the steamboats. 

A short distance above Cairo the mountains and 
desert draw in close on the west, and soon the site of 
the stone quarries is seen, especially those of El-Masarah, 
from which were taken, as tablets in situ record, the 
finer blocks of limestone built into the pyramids of 
Ghizeh. The foreshore widens, and overlooking the 
beautiful, fertile valley, studded with villages shaded 
by many palm trees, the long line of the pyramids is 
seen beyond. A divergence may be made into the 
Fayum, a pear-shaped tract extending over thirty 
miles into the desert. Here is the site of the famous 
Labyrinth. It is lamentable that this wonderful struc- 
ture is now such a hopeless mass of ruins that nothing 
satisfactory can be made out of them, although the plan 
may, in a measure, be understood even at present. A 
few remarks are borrowed from an old writer as being 



122 AFRICA TO-DAY 

a little more effective than the bald account given in 
our works of reference. It was designed as a pantheon 
or universal temple for all the Egyptian deities, as well 
as to be a meeting-place of the magistrates of the nation 
for feasting and sacrifice. Each nome was represented 
by a delegate, and these, collectively, judged causes of 
great importance. 

For each nome there was a hall. Herodotus says 
twelve, for Egypt was, in his time, divided into that 
many districts or prefectures; Pliny says sixteen; 
Strabo, twenty-seven. The first says these halls were 
vaulted and each had the same number of doors 
opposite one another, six opening to the north and 
six to the south, all shut off by the same outer wall. 
There were three thousand apartments; one-half in the 
lower storey, below the level of the ground, the rest in 
the upper storey. Herodotus saw only the upper ones, 
being refused admission to the lower on account of their 
sanctity, for here were the sepulchres of the holy croco- 
diles and the tombs of the kings who had built the 
Labyrinth. This writer declares that what he saw 
seemed to surpass the work of human hands; there were 
so many ways out through the various passages, and 
there were such infinite returns which afforded a thousand 
occasions for wonder. He passed through spacious halls 
into grand chambers; thence into private apartments; 
then by hallways out of the smaller rooms and spacious 
chambers into still grander ones. The roofs and walls 
were encrusted with marble, and on the latter were 
sculptured figures also. The halls were surrounded with 
pillars of polished white stone. To Herodotus' descrip- 




Copyright, Underwood e^ Underwood, N. Y. 

The Grotto-Temple of Abu Simbel 
From a boat on the Nile, Egypt 



THE NILE: HISTORICALLY 123 

tion others add that the Labyrinth stood in an immense 
square surrounded by buildings at a great distance. 
The porch was of Parian marble and there were other 
pillars of Cyene marble. Inside were temples dedicated 
to several deities, and galleries to which one ascended 
by ninety steps; these were adorned with columns of 
porphyry, images of the gods, and statues of kings, all of 
monstrous size. The passages met and crossed in such 
an intricate manner as to make it impossible for a stranger 
to find his way without a guide. 

Still farther on in the Fayum may be traced the 
remains of Lake Moeris, and this indicates considerable 
skill in hydraulics and engineering. It was an artificial 
lake the water of which was intended to be a reservoir 
for the Nile's excess in time of unusual flood and to 
supplement in time of insufficiency. There is every 
indication of a much greater population in the Fayum 
than the present handful of peasants and labourers. 
This fact is an incentive to archaeologists to pursue 
investigations. 

Returning to the Nile proper, and continuing to ascend, 
it is soon noticeable that the mountains on the east now 
approach so close to the river that at times there is not 
even a narrow strip of arable land, while towards the 
west the valley is wider than before. There is nothing 
of special interest for some time and then a handsome 
mosque, with minarets resembling in appearance those 
of the mosque of Sultan Hasan at Cairo, is seen. Pres- 
ently the river touches the cliffs of Gebet el-Teyr, or 
"Mountain of the Birds," on the summit of which stood 
a Coptic convent called the " Convent of the Virgin." 



124 AFRICA TO-DAY 

One of the monks used to descend and swim off to pass- 
ing boats, if there were strangers aboard, asking alms 
from "fellow Christians." Many sepulchral grottoes 
are noticed in the face of the eastern mountains. Those 
of Beni-Hassan are as beautiful and as interesting as 
any in Egypt; they stand in line near the summit of the 
mountain and it is not much of a climb to reach them. 
The two northernmost are remarkable for having porti- 
coes, each supported by two polygonal columns, "of 
an order that is believed to be the prototype of the 
Doric." Most of the grottoes are adorned with sculp- 
tures and paintings which pourtray with great truthful- 
ness phases of life in the time when they were done, 
long ago; for these grottoes were the tombs of nomarchs 
and other governors of the twelfth dynasty (about 2500 
B.C.). The paintings are said to be surprisingly fresh 
even now. These are certainly appealing places which 
tempt the traveller to stop, and at short distances there 
are others; for example, at el-Ashmuneyn. 

Erelong the boat is opposite Abydos, on the border 
of the desert here separated from the Nile by a broad, 
cultivated tract. At Abydos was found the famous list 
of Pharaohs, known as "The List of Abydos," one of 
the most valuable things, connected with Egyptology, 
in the British Museum. After the discovery of that 
first one, M. Mariette found a corresponding tablet in 
another temple here, which fortunately proved to be 
complete. In the desert near by are many tombs, 
remarkable for the interesting antiquities discovered 
while clearing them out. Forty miles from Abydos 
is the village of Dendereh. Here is seen the first 




Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. 

Hunting the Wild Bull 
Depicted on temple wall of Rameses III, Medine Habu, Thebes 



THE NILE: HISTORICALLY 125 

well-preserved and unburied temple that is found on 
the voyage, that of Athor, the Egyptian Venus, and at 
this place the tourist is almost certain to tarry. 
Soon after leaving Dendereh, Thebes is reached. Its 
monuments do not show at a distance as well as do 
those of Memphis; they stand on both sides of the 
river, which here has for a few miles a west to east 
course. They are simply indescribable in the space 
here available. Possibly the names Luxor and Karnak 
are more familiar, and the Rameseum will hold the 
attention, as will the Tombs of the Kings. From Thebes 
to the beautiful island of Philae, beyond the proper limits 
of Egypt (for we are now in upper Egypt), there is but 
little to hold the attention of any but the enthusiastic 
specialist. This little gem of an island is only a quarter 
of a mile long and five hundred feet wide. It was 
highly revered by the ancient Egyptians because it was 
a burialplace of Osiris. The great temple of the god 
stands here, the portal bearing the name of Nectanebes 
II, but the wings were added by the Ptolemies, making 
the entire width of the edifice about one hundred and 
twenty-two feet. 

Assuming that the tourist will wish to continue his 
voyage up the Nile, and this is not impossible, though 
not altogether easy in the winter, there will be found 
some very exhilarating scenery between Assouan (already 
briefly, but sufficiently, mentioned) and Wady Haifa, 
just above which place is the second cataract; here it 
will be remembered a railway to Khartum was opened 
in 1899. One hundred miles farther up the river, at 
Hannek, is the third cataract. Just below Selmi, two 



126 AFRICA TO-DAY 

hundred and thirty miles from Hannek, is the fourth, 
and forty miles below Berber is the fifth, the highest. 
From this point on to where the Atbara River comes in 
from the east the river is navigable, flowing through the 
Nubian Desert. Two hundred miles above the junction 
is Khartum, concerning which place something will be 
said in the next chapter. At Khartum the White Nile 
is joined by its largest eastern tributary, the Blue Nile, 
that drains an enormous territory. Some three hundred 
miles still farther is Fashoda, and sixty miles beyond, 
Sobat. All along here the river flows through a great 
plain, often as flat as a floor, stretching from spurs of 
the Abyssinia highlands on the east, far away to the 
hilly districts of Taghala and Kordofan on the west. 
But a little farther and the stranger is in one of the 
many spots of Africa which still possess attraction for 
those who wish to explore some of the numerous tracts 
that are not perfectly drawn on our maps, 



CHAPTER IX 
CENTRAL AFRICA 

TF we consider this section as being that part of the 
-■* continent bounded, speaking without much pretence 
at geographical accuracy, by the Sahara and Libyan 
deserts on the north; the Red Sea, Abyssinia, British 
East Africa, and German East Africa on the east; British 
South Africa (as including Rhodesia) on the south, and 
the several Atlantic Coast States on the west, we shall 
then have left for discussion the two parts of the Sudan 
(the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and the French Sudan) and 
what was called for some time the Kongo Free State. 
The Sudan has an ethnological rather than a physical 
unity, and politically it is now cut up into a large number 
of sections, all under the control of European Powers, 
and not yet brought into that condition of peaceful recog- 
nition of authority which is to be desired. This territory 
is, in very truth, the Heart of the Dark Continent, and 
it is not yet thoroughly well known, although there is 
quite enough of interest to say about it to hold the atten- 
tion for a few minutes. The Arabs called this region 
Bilad es-Sudan, the " Country of the Blacks," and the 
natural inference is that the aborigines, as well as the 
people still farther south, were Negroes; but it will be 
shown, we think, when we come to discuss the Blacks 
of Africa, in Chapter XIII, that very few of the original 
inhabitants were of pure negro blood. 

127 



128 AFRICA TO-DAY 

From all sides, as one enters the Sudan, the impression 
produced by the appearance of the country, "a moder- 
ately elevated region, diversified with extensive open or 
rolling plains, level plateaus, and even true highlands, 
especially in the southwest," is likely to be pleasing; 
but of course the transition on the north from the barren 
desert, whether abrupt, as is frequently the case, or 
gradual, as has been shown to be the case sometimes, is 
most refreshing. Yet the climate of the Sudan is truly 
tropical, although not necessarily unhealthy, save in the 
low lands along the rivers, which are almost fatal to 
Europeans. There are two distinctly marked seasons; 
a rainy one, from April or May to October, during which 
the temperature is high and the humidity trying, the 
rest of the year being dry and warm. The country is 
noted for terrific thunderstorms and torrential down- 
pours which often cause devastating floods. Lake Chad, 
almost at the exact central point of the northern boun- 
dary of the Sudan, has been described as being in a 
landlocked basin; but if we may accept the account of 
an expedition made in the autumn of 1910, this descrip- 
tion must be amended. In March, 191 1, there was 
printed in the London Times a synopsis of a pilgrimage 
made by Miss Olive Mac Leod to the grave of her lover, 
Lieut. Boyd Alexander, who was killed by the natives in 
the French Sudan. The party left the town of Fuli, 
intending to reach, if possible, the falls of the Mao Kabi 
River in French Equatorial Africa. According to local 
legend, these falls had never, until that time, been seen 
by human beings. They were said to be defended from 
curious natives by fearful devils who resented intrusion, 



CENTRAL AFRICA 120, 

and from inquisitive Europeans by immense herds of 
giraffes under magic spell who would show themselves 
and thus lure away the strangers from the holy spot. 
The Mao Kabi River was reached in October; its valley 
was thickly covered with lush grass and unusually thick 
brush for that part of the country, but it was also strewn 
with great stones and masses of rock, hidden by the 
undergrowth, that made progress difficult. Along tribu- 
tary streams the banks were granite walls and the 
streams a succession of rapids, the current running about 
ten miles an hour, forming cascades and long series of 
falls. These were separated from one another and from 
the Mao Kabi itself, which bends sharply at that place, 
making a great, glistening St. Andrew's Cross. Retrac- 
ing their course, the party reached a lower level and at 
last came to a place where the whole river slides over a 
precipice sixty feet high. The roar was deafening because 
of the reverberation from the almost perpendicular walls 
of the narrow canyon. They reached a point jutting 
out over the water and took photographs. The scene 
was grand. At the place where the spray rose from the 
bottom of the falls there was an elliptical rainbow about 
two hundred feet in diameter. It is claimed by the 
members of this party that these falls are of consider- 
able importance as they form the main obstacle to a 
navigable waterway from the ocean to Lake Chad. This 
claim requires further verification. Captain Lenfant is 
reported to have had a distant view of these falls during 
his expedition into the same country a few years ago.* 
While there is a large number of political divisions 
*See Report of P. A. Talbot, Asst. Dist. Commr., Southern Nigeria. 



130 AFRICA TO-DAY 

in this Central Africa, some of them important states 
but most of them petty village communities, yet the 
Sudan so nearly embraces all that it is quite sufficient 
to speak of that territory, drawing precise statements 
and statistics from the tenth edition of the Encyclopaedia 
Britannica, "The Sudan," an important specialised work 
published in London, and other sources that are rec- 
ognised authorities, to supplement our own information. 
It has been the custom to speak of Eastern, Central, West- 
ern Sudan, of Egyptian Sudan, or French Sudan, and 
probably this will continue for some time; but as a matter 
of fact all these terms have no real political meaning at 
all. In a rough and ready sort of way the various 
divisions, large and small and using the old native names, 
may be segregated thus: first group, those in the upper 
Nile Valley, embracing the territory reconquered by 
the Egyptians, with material British assistance in men 
and means, during the last part of the nineteenth cen- 
tury, and now under the joint control of Great Britain 
and Egypt. This group of states is now known officially 
as the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. The second group 
includes the Sultanate of Bagirmi, with Kanem and 
Wadai, the latter being the last to yield to European 
control, its conquest having been effected only in 1909. 
This group is now included in the French Kongo. The 
third group is almost wholly included in the British 
Northern Nigeria Protectorate. It embraces Sokoto, 
formerly an independent Sultanate, and its dependencies 
the emirates of Kano, Bida, Zaria, and some other insig- 
nificant domains, as well as another old Sultanate, . 
Bornu, which partly comes within the lines of the German 



CENTRAL AFRICA 131 

colony of the Kameruns; and the same thing must be 
said of Adamawa. The fourth group includes all the 
native states of Bondu, Futa Jallon, Massina, Mossi, 
and the district within the great bend of the Niger River. 
During the latter part of the last century France gained 
control of all this territory and gave it the name of the 
French Sudan, but in 1900 the official title was changed 
and now practically all of it is divided between the two 
colonies, the Upper Senegal and the Niger. 

It was Mungo Park who first made Europe acquainted 
with the western part of this great Central Africa, 
although he was not the hrst traveller there, for he 
visited it between 1795 and 1797, and again in 1805. He 
kept a careful journal, published after his death, but in 
his account of explorations there is not so much of ethno- 
logical value as of physical difficulties, sometimes over- 
come, but too frequently overwhelming, and of personal 
discomfort — all going to prove that African exploration 
was then a more serious matter than it is now. We note 
with some amusement, because of later knowledge, of 
course, Park's surprise at hearing the native Blacks 
chanting the Moslem La illah el allah Muhammad rasowl 
allahi, "There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is 
his Prophet." But we approve his praise for the Man- 
dingo negro's maternal affection, who exclaimed, " Strike 
me, but do not curse my mother!" because fanatical 
Mohammedanism, almost exceeding that of the Mecca- 
ites, and allegiance to his mother are still conspicuous 
traits. Ever since Park's time, as was the case then, 
the natives of this section have been astonished, mysti- 
fied even, at the avidity of Europeans for ivory; and it 



132 AFRICA TO-DAY 

is probably true now, as it certainly was then, if we 
could but get at the truth, that they thought the strangers 
believed the elephant's tusks to be endowed with some 
magical and potent power. 

We have, as yet, singularly little information as to 
social and economical conditions in Katanga, the lofty, 
southeastern corner of the Belgian Kongo; of unsavoury 
reputation, however. It is rich in minerals, we know, 
and because of its proximity to Rhodesia and its compara- 
tively healthy climate, it bids fair to prove — both 
industrially and politically — a second Rand in the not 
distant future, if only its administration can be ordered 
along wise and humane lines and entrusted to strong and 
competent hands. There was published in 191 1, by the 
Solway Institute of Sociology, in Brussels, a report on 
the Upper Katanga which gave a thoroughly scientific, 
and therefore dispassionate, account of the economic 
conditions which existed there at the end of 1910 and 
which, owing to the special qualifications of its author, 
Professor G. de Leener, is well worthy of receiving careful 
attention. Rhodesia, because of its geographical prox- 
imity and through the enterprise of its British population, 
has secured a practical monopoly of the trade of Upper 
Katanga, and it means to keep it. Owing to reluctance 
on the part of the Belgian exporters to adapt themselves 
to the established requirements as to packing, shipping, 
etc., the granting of credit, and other factors necessary if 
a trader is to be successful in that particular country 
or, as a rule, in any recently opened section, and also 
because of the further fact that there is not a single 
Belgian engaged in trade in either Rhodesia or Mozam- 



CENTRAL AFRICA 133 

bique (there appeared to be, at the time this report 
was written, only one Belgian in the Upper Katanga 
with a store of his own), practically the whole trade 
depends upon the activity of British houses, and this 
naturally entails, in its turn, the use of the English lan- 
guage and of English currency. 

The failure on the part of the Belgian merchants is 
attributed largely to over- centralisation in all things 
Belgian, and Professor de Leener expressed the opinion 
that his countrymen are temperamentally ill-adapted 
to successful colonisation. Belgians do not take even 
reasonable chances in commercial exploitation; they 
have not the capacity or inclination to turn their hand 
to any and every kind of work. There are two valu- 
able warnings to be taken from the professor's paper, 
and these may well be carefully noted by Americans 
who are looking towards Africa or any foreign land: 
first, against paying people to emigrate who have not 
the natural inclination to do so without receiving any 
bonus, and second, against supposing that the type of 
man who may be good enough for the easy-going, 
secluded existence of the Lower Kongo is likely to be 
able to adapt himself to the needs of social, commercial, 
or industrial life as it is understood by the pushing, 
keen Briton in South Africa. 

However, in western and central Sudan there is just 
now little to hold the attention except in commercial 
and industrial matters, and these are in the control of 
Europeans, so that there is not much opening for Ameri- 
can enterprise. The country possesses no such wealth of 
ethnological and archaeological material as does eastern 



134 AFRICA TO-DAY 

Sudan, and therefore we shall proceed to discuss that 
section. It was not through easy conquest that the 
revolt of the tribes of the Egyptian Sudan who had 
yielded to the religious and political domination of the 
Arabian civilisation was overcome and the territory 
reconquered by the Anglo-Egyptian expedition of 1896- 
1898. It was a serious problem to solve which was 
offered by the uprising of the Mahdi (the "well- 
guided," that spiritual leader who, according to Moslem 
belief, is to appear on earth during the last days of this 
world and lead the Mussulmans to world-wide victory 
at the point of the sword), Mahommed Ahmed, in 1881- 
1884 and the consequences that flowed therefrom. 

In Mr. Steevens' book, "With Kitchener to Khar- 
tum," we read this: "And the Dervishes? The honour 
of the fight must still go with the men who died. Our 
men were perfect, but the Dervishes were superb, 
beyond perfection. It was their largest, best, and 
bravest army that ever fought against us for Mah- 
dism, and it died worthily of the huge empire that 
Mahdism won and kept so long. Their riflemen, 
mangled by every kind of death and torment that 
man can devise, clung round the black flag and the 
green, emptying their poor rotten home-made car- 
tridges dauntlessly. Their spearmen charged death 
every moment hopelessly. Their horsemen led each 
attack, riding into bullets till nothing was left. . . . 
Not one such, or two, or ten, but rush on rush, com- 
pany on company never stopping, though all their 
view that was not unshaken enemy, was the bodies 
of the men who had rushed before them. A dusky line 



CENTRAL AFRICA 135 

got up and stormed forward, it bent, broke up, fell apart, 
and disappeared. Before the smoke had cleared another 
line was bending and storming forward in the same 
track. . . . From the green army there now came 
only death-enamoured desperadoes, strolling one by one 
towards the rifles, pausing to shake a spear, turning aside 
to recognise a corpse, then, caught by a sudden jet of 
fury, bounding forward, checking, sinking limply to the 
ground. Now under the black flag in a ring of bodies 
stood only three men, facing the three thousand of the 
Third Brigade. They folded their arms about the staff 
and gazed steadily forward. Two fell. The last Der- 
vish stood up and filled his chest ; he shouted the name 
of his God and hurled his spear. Then he stood quite 
still, waiting. It took him. full; he quivered, gave at 
the knees, and toppled with his head on his arms and his 
face towards the legions of his conquerors. " 

Commenting upon this, Mr. Norman Angell, in 
"The Great Illusion," says: "Let us be honest. Is 
there anything in European history — Cambronne, the 
Light Brigade, anything you like — more magnificent 
than this? If we are honest we shall say no. But 
note what follows in Mr. Steevens' narrative. What 
sort of nature should we expect those savage heroes to 
display? Cruel, perhaps, but at least loyal. They 
will stand by their chief. Men who can die like that 
will not betray him for gain. They are uncorrupted 
by commercialism. Well, a few chapters after the 
scene just described, one may read this: 'As a ruler 
the Khalifa finished when he rode out of Omdurman. 
His own pampered Baggara horsemen killed his men 



136 AFRICA TO-DAY 

and looted his cattle that were to feed them. Some- 
body betrayed the position of the reserve camels. . . . 
His followers took to killing one another. . . . The 
whole population of the Khalifa's capital was now 
ready to pilfer the Khalifa's grain. . . . Wonderful 
workings of the savage mind! Six hours before they 
were dying in regiments for their master; now they were 
looting his corn. Six hours before they were slashing 
our wounded to pieces; now they were asking us for 
coppers.' " It is well for Africa, for the whole world, 
that such people have been brought under firm, consid- 
erate control. 

The limits of this joint administration (joint in 
name rather than as a political fact), now called 
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, are not precisely the same as 
were those of the States which were formerly included. 
The line between it and Egypt is now defined at 22 
north latitude, the Egypt-Nubia boundary; then, going 
on round the compass towards the east, the Red Sea, 
Eritrea, Abyssinia, Uganda Protectorate, Belgian Kongo, 
French Kongo. North of Darfur the western and the 
northern boundaries are supposed to meet, but the line 
is absolutely indefinite. According to the Turkish 
firman, issued in 1841, a semicircle, convex towards the 
north, from the Siwa Oasis to Wadai, and cutting the 
Nile between the second and third cataracts, was to be 
the frontier; but that line is disregarded by the Sudan- 
ese government. This Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, as will 
be understood by a glance at a map, is a compact terri- 
tory which brings the whole Nile Valley, from the lakes 
to the Mediterranean, under the control of Great Britain. 




Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. 

The Beautiful Water Front and Harbour of Zanzibar 
British, French, and other steamers call here regularly 



CENTRAL AFRICA 137 

It is a country about one-fourth the size of Europe, 
being about nine hundred and fifty thousand square 
miles in area. From south to north it is traversed by 
the Nile, and all the great tributaries of that river are 
partially or entirely within its borders; and between the 
southern border of Uganda and the northern line of Rho- 
desia, along both sides of Lake Tanganyika, is the only 
stretch of the whole band through which is to pass the 
Cape to Cairo Railway that Great Britain does not now 
control. 

The most elevated portion of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 
is a range of low mountains — really little more than hills 
as seen from the Red Sea — parallel with the sea and 
rather close to it. Between the coast and the Nile is 
the Nubian desert, a rugged, rocky, barren waste, with 
here and there a little scanty vegetation in the wadies. 
But within the triangle formed by the Nile, the Atbara, 
and the Blue Nile, the so-called Island of Meroe, the 
soil is very fertile, and here the rich land alternates 
between rolling open ground and forests wherein is but 
little undergrowth. The desert stretches well down 
into the Sudan on the west of the Nile, much farther 
than on the east. The northern part of Kordofan, 
which lies between the desert and the plains of Bahr el- 
Ghazal (the important western tributary of the Nile) , is 
barren steppes, but south of the tenth parallel of lati- 
tude there is plenty of water everywhere. In the high- 
lands of this region the climate is healthy because of its 
dryness. 

There are literally but few people living in the desert, 
and even in the fertile districts the population is not now 



138 AFRICA TO-DAY 

great, for the former inhabitants suffered much from 
disease and war during the Mahdi regime. The popu- 
lation is increasing slowly and there are some Europeans, 
mostly Greeks, going into this region. It is not quite 
correct now to apply the term Bilad es-Siidan to the 
Anglo-Egyptian domains, for the people in the north are 
Hamitic or Semitic and there are many nomads who 
are classed as Arabs. North of Khartum is found a 
great mixture of blood, especially among the Nubians. 
North of the twelfth parallel the inhabitants are almost 
altogether of mixed Arab descent; in Dafur they are 
Arab and Negro. Those who may be called true negroes 
are from the Nilotic tribes; there are several strains to 
be detected and great variation in physique and colour. 
A marked contrast is to be noted between the industry 
of the Europeans and the easy-going manner — not to 
say laziness — of the native Sudanese. British firmness 
has effectually put a stop to the capture of slaves, and 
that traffic has ceased; but domestic slavery continues. 
This probably is a survival of old custom, when, as a 
result of famine, men and women sell themselves to 
obtain food for themselves and their families, or through 
insolvency, and possibly as punishment for serious crimes. 
The treatment of these slaves is not now marked by 
cruelty. 

In the northeastern parts of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 
facilities for travel are now fairly adequate — north 
of Khartum by railway, south of that place by train 
and steamboats, or by caravan where modern con- 
veniences have not yet been installed. There are 
two principal lines of railway; the one connects the 



CENTRAL AFRICA 139 

Sudan with northern Egypt, the other goes to the Red 
Sea. The first follows the east bank of the Nile to Abu 
Hamed, then goes straight across country to Wady 
Haifa, thence by steamboat to Assouan, at which place 
connection is made with trains for Cairo and Alexandria. 
At Khartum the line crosses the Blue Nile by a bridge 
and follows up the valley to Geteinah (Gezira) and 
Sennar, turns west into the White Nile Valley, crosses 
that stream, by bridge, near Adlar (Abba) Island, and 
continues on to El Obeid, the principal town of Kordofan. 
It was near this place that the Mahdists overwhelmed 
Hicks Pasha's army, and for a time thereafter the trade 
of the whole province was diverted towards the north; 
but it is now finding its way back into Egypt. The 
second important railway leaves the trunk line at Atbara 
Junction, near the confluence of the Nile and Atbara 
Rivers, and goes east via Berber and the old Berber- 
Suakin caravan route. It forks at Sallom, one branch 
going on to Suakin, the other to Port Sudan, a newly 
established harbour on the Red Sea by rail from Khartum 
493 miles, while Suakin is 497 miles from Khartum. 

There is another line from Abu Hamed to Kareima 
(opposite Merawei) in the Dongola district, below the 
fourth cataract. The short railway from Wady Haifa 
along the bank of the Nile to Kerma was abandoned in 
1903, and connection with the Assouan-Cairo line is for 
the present made by steamer. The total distance from 
Khartum to Alexandria, rail and boat, is very nearly 
fifteen hundred miles, or more than one-quarter of the 
entire length of the Cape to Cairo Railway. There are 
river steamers also between Kerma and Kareima, and 



140 AFRICA TO-DAY 

above Khartum the Government maintains a regular 
steamboat service to Gondakoro in the Uganda Pro- 
tectorate, When high water permits, boats also run for 
some distance up the Blue Nile, but powerful dredgers 
and machines to cut the masses of reeds, grass, trees, 
etc., which accumulate to form awkward obstructions 
(called Sudd), are required constantly to keep open the 
fairway in the Upper Nile and Bahr el-Ghazal. The 
old caravan routes Korosko-Abu Hamed and Berber- 
Suakin have been superseded by railways, but else- 
where wells and rest-houses are kept up along others 
of these roads which lead from interior towns to the 
Nile; and on some of the thoroughfares regular motor- 
car service is maintained, removing some part of the 
stigma of being antiquated. 

Buna is the chief grain crop in the Anglo-Egyptian 
Sudan. Two crops a year are gathered, but besides this 
wheat, barley, beans, sesame, onions, melons and many 
other grains, fruits, and vegetables do well; and there 
are considerable quantities of peanuts. There are, in 
the western sections, extensive forests yielding gum and 
rubber. The gum of eastern Kordofan is of two varieties: 
white, hashab, which is the better, and red, talk. Rubber 
comes mainly from the Bahr el-Ghazal region, where 
there are both Para and Ceara plantations; some is 
obtained in the Sobat valley. The wealth of Arabs is, 
however, measured yet by their camels, horses, and 
cattle. Ostrich farming is a growing and profitable 
industry. The ancient gold mines in the Nubian desert, 
about midway between Wady Haifa and Abu Hamed, 
were reopened in 1905 and are now paying. Small 



CENTRAL AFRICA 141 

quantities of gold dust are washed in Kordofan, and the 
metal is found in several other localities. There is 
fairly good lignite in Dongola and iron ore in Darfur, 
south of Kordofan, as well as in the Bahr el-Ghazal 
region; "in the last mentioned place mudiria (?) iron 
is worked by natives." The desert of Hofrat el-Nahas, 
"the copper mines," is rich in copper ore and mines have 
been worked intermittently from the remote past. 

The trade of the condominium is systematised and 
regulated by the Government. A governor-general who 
has been recommended by Great Britain is appointed by 
the Egyptian Government. In 19 10 a council of four 
officials and from two to four civilians, nominated by 
the Egyptian ministers, was created to advise the 
governor-general in the exercise of his official and 
legislative duties, and all questions are decided by a 
majority vote of the council. Their action is, however, 
always subject to the governor-general's veto. It is to 
be expected that the appointment of Lord Kitchener 
will result in there being more direct supervision from 
Cairo than ever before. 

Archaeological research in the Sudan generally was 
greatly retarded by the long-continued political confu- 
sion, and the work which had been begun by French, 
German, British, and other students was stopped by the 
Mahdist outbreaks, so that the Egyptian Sudan, with 
certain portions of Egypt south of Assouan, was practi- 
cally closed to investigators. Even after the overthrow 
of the Mahdi at Omdurman, in 1898, it was a long 
time before this work was resumed, and before much had 
been done scientists were thrown into a state of terrible 



142 AFRICA TO-DAY 

consternation by the Egyptian Government's resolution 
to raise the dam at Assouan and to extend the reservoir 
at the first cataract. This plan threatened the whole 
valley from Assouan up to Abu Simbel, and haste was 
demanded if opportunities for underground research 
were not to be lost forever. Large sums were granted for 
this purpose and to preserve buildings which would be 
affected by the overflow. The University of Pennsyl- 
vania sent out the Eckley B. Coxe, Jr., expedition to the 
southern half of Lower Nubia, while Egyptian excavators 
worked from Korosko to Assouan. From 1907 to 191 1 
an enormous mass of new material relating to the archae- 
ology of Egypt and the Sudan was secured. All of 
Nubia, save about twenty miles in the south, is attached 
to Egypt for administrative purposes; yet this boundary 
is artificial. The natural geographical and ethnical 
frontier of Egypt on the Nile is the first cataract. The 
earliest writers, as did Diocletian later, recognised this 
fact clearly, and Julian merely anticipated the opinion 
of every modern observer when he described "pontus 
Syenes" as the gate of Africa. 

This concluding paragraph, it need hardly be said, is 
condensed from the fuller account given in the Encyclo- 
paedia Britannica, eleventh edition. The University of 
Pennsylvania expedition opened a new chapter in the 
history of African races. We had no records of the 
founders of the first great Ethiopian kingdom from 
Piankhi to Tirhakah, nor had any fresh light been thrown 
upon the relations of that remarkable king, Ergamenes, 
with the Egyptian Ptolemies. But exploration of sites 
in the southern half of Lower Nubia revealed the exist- 



CENTRAL AFRICA 143 

ence of a wholly unsuspected and independent civilisa- 
tion which grew up during the first six centuries after 
Christ. Graves gave new types of statues, bronzes, 
ivory carvings, and painted pottery — all of the highest 
artistic value — as well as a large number of stone 
stelae inscribed with funerary formulae in the Meroitic 
script; the cemeteries of Shablul and Karanag yielded 
one hundred and seventy inscriptions on stone, besides 
inscribed ostraka. 



CHAPTER X 

EASTERN AFRICA 

WE are to include in this chapter Eritrea, Abys- 
sinia, the British Somali Coast Protectorate, 
Italian Somaliland, French Somaliland, British East 
Africa (Ibea), German East Africa, and Portuguese 
East Africa; all maritime states, except Abyssinia, 
which had access to the Red Sea littoral in former times 
and, inclusively, stretching along the east side of Africa 
from i8° 2 r north latitude to 2 6° 52' south, where the 
Portuguese possessions touch Tongaland (Natal) in 
British territory. Of all these, Abyssinia is the most 
interesting in its history; although British and German 
East Africa are probably quite as attractive to the general 
reader to-day because of the great possibilities they hold 
for the naturalist, the sportsman, the industrialist, and 
the active merchant. 

At the time of the Roman domination in Northern 
Africa the country now called Eritrea formed part of 
an independent kingdom which was the same as that 
known later, somewhat loosely, as Ethiopia. The old 
name Axum, or Aksum, was applied specifically to a 
city in the present Abyssinian province of Tigre, that 
still possesses some remarkable ruins. In 1870 Italy 
secured the nucleus of her overseas possessions by the 
purchase of Assah for £1880. It was but natural that 

144 




Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. 

Native Troops at Moschi, East Africa 
They are drilled by European officers 



EASTERN AFRICA 145 

Great Britain should look with some jealousy at the 
establishing of a port of call which might become a rival 
for the East India steamship service. But eventually 
Great Britain's opposition to Italy's plan was withdrawn, 
while that of Turkey and Egypt was calmly ignored, 
and by a decree dated July 5, 1882, Assah was declared 
an Italian colony. Then, in 1885, Italy took possession 
of Massawa (or Massowah), Great Britain approving 
of the act as tending to promote the peace of the Red 
Sea coast of Africa. " Between 1883 and 1888 various 
treaties were concluded with the Sultan of Aussa, ceding 
the Danakil coast to Italy and recognising an Italian 
protectorate over the whole of his country, through 
which passes the trade route from Assab Bay to Shoa." 
On the first day of January, 1890, a decree was issued 
by the Italian Government uniting the various Italian 
possessions on the west coast of the Red Sea into one 
colony, which was given the name of the Colony of 
Eritrea, "so named after the Erythracum Mare of the 
Romans." (See modern Litri, in Asia Minor.) At first 
the form of government was a military one, but after 
the defeat of the Italian forces by the Abyssinians this 
was changed to a civil administration directly responsible 
to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Rome. The civil 
laws for natives are those which were established by old 
local usage, while Europeans are amenable to Italian 
laws, although in their case, too, a certain regard is 
had for native customs. "The frontiers were defined by 
a French-Italian convention (January 24, 1900), fixing 
the frontier between French Somaliland and the Italian 
possessions at Rahtala, and also by various agreements 



146 AFRICA TO-DAY 

with Great Britain and Abyssinia. A tripartite agree- 
ment between Italy, Abyssinia, and Great Britain, 
entered into on the fifteenth of May, 1902, placed the 
territory of the Kanama tribe on the north bank of the 
Setit, within Eritrea. The convention of May 16, 1900, 
settled the Abyssinia-Eritrea frontier in the Afar country, 
the boundary being fixed at sixty kilometres from the 
coast. " In the southern part of the colony there are 
several small sultanates, for example Aussa and Raheita, 
which, although still possessing a certain similitude of 
independence, are nevertheless under Italian protection. 

The Dahlak archipelago and other groups of islands 
in the Red Sea, but near the African shore, belong to 
Eritrea. Meteorologically considered, the colony may 
be divided into three distinct districts. Along the coast 
the climate is decidedly bad, being characterised by 
great heat and an excess of humidity. Massawa, the 
chief port and virtually the metropolis, shows a general 
average for the whole year of 8&° F., and in summer the 
mercury often rises to 120 in the shade, although June, 
September, and October are, on the whole, the hottest 
months. In the season that is euphemistically called 
winter, that is from November to April, the tempera- 
ture is slightly lower; but at that time malarial fever is 
very bad. From about 1650 to 8500 feet above sea- 
level the climate is much better; the air is moderately 
cool, especially at night, because of the great radiation. 
Europeans find life in this section quite agreeable. 
Above eighty-five hundred feet the climate is compar- 
able with that of any other alpine region. 

The population is mixed. In the north there are 



EASTERN AFRICA 147 

Arabs, or people of Hamitic descent; in the coast lands, 
between Abyssinia and the sea, the inhabitants claim 
to be Arabs, but they are more like the Somalis and 
Gallas of southern Abyssinia, British and German East 
Africa. They are almost all given to fetishism and tree 
worship, although a great many profess to be devout 
Mussulmans. These people are admirable specimens 
of mankind. They have narrow, straight noses, thin 
lips, and small, pointed chins; the girls are very pretty 
while still young, but lose their physical attractions 
early. The men are desperate fighters and successfully 
resisted the Egyptians in 1875, but between 1883 and 
1888 the most influential sultan made treaties acknowl- 
edging Italian protection, and these have been reason- 
ably respected with the result that these people are now 
quiet and peaceful. 

The Afar region, in the extreme south, is partly in 
Eritrea and partly in Abyssinia, while the Afar people 
are found in French Somaliland in considerable num- 
bers. Their saying, "Guns are useful only to frighten 
cowards," gives a clue to their character. In former 
times they were bold and terribly successful pirates, and 
to-day their descendants are the only fishermen in the 
Red Sea who dare hunt the big and combative dugong. 
The line between Eritrea and French Somaliland is just 
north of the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, on the opposite 
shore of which stands Perim, with which place Massawa 
is connected by a submarine cable giving telegraphic 
connection to all parts of the world. There are land 
telegraph lines pretty well over the colony and fairly 
good roads. One railway, sixty-five miles long, connects 



148 AFRICA TO-DAY 

Massawa with Asmara, the capital of the colony; wisely 
chosen as such, for it stands on the Hamasen plateau, 
at an elevation of seventy-eight hundred feet above 
the sea. It is intended to extend this line to Sabderat 
and Kassala in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Thus, when 
the contemplated line from Khartum to Kassala is built, 
there will be railway service in connection with the 
Anglo-Egyptian system. All things considered, while 
Eritrea is an interesting country for the ethnologist and 
economist, it can hardly be said to be a place which 
will attract many tourists. 

The small colony, French Somaliland, may be dis- 
missed with a very few words. Beyond the fact that 
the intensely hot and uncomfortable little port of Djibouti 
(English writers drop the initial "D") affords a means 
of entrance to Abyssinia by railway, one hundred and 
eighty-eight miles long, to Dawa, there is really nothing 
to be said here. Several authors of interesting books 
about East and Central Africa have gone into the 
country from Djibouti, and their descriptions of efforts 
to make life at the God-forsaken, dirty little spot ape 
that of Paris are sufficiently amusing to be read as an 
incident. 

Although the Portuguese had some acquaintance with 
the country now included in British Somaliland and 
Italian Somaliland, we really knew but little of it until 
the Egyptians took possession of Berberah in 1874. 
There are some interesting problems for the student of 
comparative philology to unravel, and it is possible that 
the archaeologist may find reward for effort bestowed. 
Commercially the volume of trade, which is rapidly grow- 




Copyright, Underwood er Underwood, N. Y. 

A Group of Wachagga People 

On the lower slopes oj Mt. Kilima njaro, East Africa. The entire 

family, man and beast, is housed in one small hut 



EASTERN AFRICA 149 

ing to considerable proportions, especially in the section 
under British protection, must command the attention 
of the economist. As a field for Christian propaganda, 
both colonies demand attention from missionaries, as do 
most of the colonies considered in this chapter. 

Abyssinia is, it hardly need be said, the most interest- 
ing, historically, politically, and ethnologically, of all 
these countries that we have included in our Eastern 
Africa. That missionaries of the Christian faith made 
their way into Abyssinia in the earliest centuries of our 
era has been accepted as a fact for such a long time that 
discussion is unnecessary. We shall merely note that 
in a.d. 330 Frumentius was consecrated the first Bishop 
of Ethiopia by St. Athanasius of Alexandria, but that 
little progress was made in conversion until after the close 
of the next century. Many interesting papers are to be 
found in the series of volumes entitled "Jesuit Rela- 
tions." The notorious Prester John, after being chased 
over pretty much the whole of Asia, has been located 
in Abyssinia since the fourteenth century, and there are 
several accounts of expeditions to this country given in 
such well-known works as "Purchas: His Pilgrims" and 
the like, which contain statements that the ruler of the 
kingdom, or empire, was this famous Prester John, or 
descended from him. 

The name Ethiopia continued to be associated with 
Abyssinia even as late as the end of the nineteenth cen- 
tury; for on May 2, 1889, Krng Menelek signed a treaty 
with Italy in which was this clause: "His Majesty the 
King of Kings of Ethiopia consents to make use of the 
government of His Majesty the King of Italy for the 



150 AFRICA TO-DAY 

treatment of all questions concerning other powers and 
governments." Because of this, Italy, not unnaturally, 
claimed protectorate rights over the whole of Abyssinia. 
As it is too long a story to tell here, for little could be 
omitted so interesting is it all, we refrain from comment- 
ing upon the political troubles that ensued and Italy's 
discomfiture. In September, 1889, this treaty was rati- 
fied in Italy by Menelek's representative, the Ras 
Makonnen, who entered into a convention by the terms 
of which Italy recognised Menelek as "emperor of 
Ethiopia," while Menelek recognised the Italian colony 
of Eritrea and arrangement was made for a special 
Italo-Abyssinian currency and for a loan with which to 
readjust the Abyssinian currency, etc. 

Since the beginning of the present century we may 
say that Abyssinia's autonomy has been restored; 
although the presence in the capital, Adis Ababa, of 
representatives of various European States, exercising 
decidedly more than merely diplomatic functions, has 
tended somewhat to impugn the integrity of Abyssinia's 
complete independence. The Anglo-French-Italian 
agreement of December, 1906, provides in its preamble 
that it is to the interest of the three signatories "to 
maintain intact the integrity of Ethiopia," and Article 
One provides for their co-operation in maintaining "the 
political and territorial status quo in Ethiopia." But 
every student will note, with varying feelings according 
to his individual bent, the absolute ignoring of Abyssinia 
in the seemingly praiseworthy agreement to preserve 
the peace. In 1903 the American Government con- 
cluded a commercial treaty with Abyssinia in terms 



EASTERN AFRICA 151 

which are more in the way of recognising her autonomy 
than any of the European conventions display. 

For the time being, at any rate, we may consider the 
frontiers of Abyssinia as being fairly well denned; and 
that country, which at one time exercised rights of 
communication to the shores of the Red Sea, is now 
relegated to the position of an inland state, a strip, 
varying in width from forty to two hundred and fifty 
miles, intervening between her frontier and the Red Sea. 
The country is divided, almost equally, into two districts, 
that in the east being comparatively low land, that in 
the west high. There is a spur of low mountains, the 
Harrar Hills, running out towards the east into British 
Somaliland. But there is, besides, a large tract of low 
country in the southwest, the Sobat territory, which 
is a part of the Nile basin. Abyssinian Somaliland, 
back of British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland, 
comprises about one-third of the kingdom. Naturally, 
the climate of Abyssinia is very variable, but with the 
exception of most parts of the lower lands, it is fairly 
healthy and in the heights of medium altitude it is 
exhilarating. Some mountain peaks run up to fifteen 
thousand feet above the sea. There are no large cities 
except Harrar, which was originally founded by Arabs. 
Axum was formerly the capital city of a great Semitic 
people, whose language, as it was spoken at the time 
when Christianity was introduced, continues to be the 
hieratic form. " The Chronicles of Axum were pre- 
served in the church, and are frequently referred to as 
the Books of Axum. The most interesting of the monu- 
ments still extant are the obelisk and the so-called 



152 AFRICA TO-DAY 

coronation-room, both constructed of granite, and the 
latter containing some valuable bilingual inscriptions." * 
Magdala, which was the residence of King Theodore, is 
chiefly associated in our minds with the terrible suffer- 
ings of certain British subjects who were kept impris- 
oned there for some time, in 1866, and for whose relief 
expeditions were organised that led, eventually, to the 
proper opening of the country and the establishing of 
the present satisfactory conditions. 

Abyssinia cannot yet be said to be well developed; 
there is a railway, one hundred and eighty-eight miles 
long, connecting Dawa with Djibouti, and there are 
caravan routes which give communication with Massawa 
(Italian) and Jaila and Berbera (British). All of these 
ports are connected with Aden by steamship lines, and 
that place is the distributing point for all the East 
African trade. The bulk of Abyssinian commerce con- 
sists of shipments of skins (hides and pelts) to the 
United States, to which country, also, practically all the 
coffee, called "Harrar Mocha," is sent, and this is con- 
sidered to be a first-class article. The cattle are 
mostly of the zebu, or hump-backed bread, and are 
rather small. With the exception of one numerically 
small breed of sheep, these animals have no wool to 
shear. There are, however, a good many goats that, in 
a measure, supply this deficiency. Until a few years 
ago the media of exchange were the old " Maria 
Theresa" dollars, bars of rock-salt, and rifle cartridges, 
but in 1905 the Bank of Abyssinia was created under 
Egyptian laws. King Menelek had given a concession 
*Enc. Brit., nth ed. 



CO 
H 
> 
H 

O 
Z 

o 
z 

H 

as 
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> 

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> 




EASTERN AFRICA 1 53 

to the National Bank of Egypt, with this purpose in 
view. This bank is now coining the Menelek dollar or 
talari. 

British East Africa, the eastern part of which was 
formerly known as Ibea, comprehensively includes all 
territory under British control on the east side of the 
continent south of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and north 
of German East Africa. On the north it borders also 
on Abyssinia; on the south the German colony; on 
the west the condominium, and on the east Italian 
Somaliland and the Indian Ocean. It is now understood 
as comprising the protectorates of Zanzibar, Uganda, 
and East Africa. Along the coast there is a narrow 
belt of low land, marked by the most luxuriant of tropical 
vegetation, for the equator crosses the southern end of 
the colony. But even here the climate is not nearly so 
unhealthy as it is in some other places similarly situated 
as regards the tropics, for there is a constant breeze from 
the ocean and the soil is exceptionally dry. Back of 
the coast the land rises rapidly in a series of steps which 
show a singular parallelism in climate and vegetation; 
the first of these uplifts is rather arid, but once past 
this the variation through sub-tropical, semi-temperate, 
and other phases up to an alpine region is most marked. 
The highlands are wonderfully healthy, fever being 
unknown. 

After crossing the backbone of the mountains, there 
is a dip in the western part of the territory into the 
basin of Lake Victoria Nyanza, which may be reached 
by the Mombasa- Victoria Nyanza railway, 584 miles 
long. This is essentially a mountain line; the gradients 



154 AFRICA TO-DAY 

are frequently from 88 to 105 feet in a mile, the curves 
are sharp, and the gauge only 3.28 feet (one metre), 
that of the Sudan, South, and Central African lines 
being 3.50 feet. At the Mau Escarpment (cutting) the 
altitude is 8,321 feet above sea-level. The cost of the 
line was about $46,000 per mile. It was finished in 
1903 and promptly put a stop to the impressing of 
slaves to be used as porters on the old caravan routes, 
thus dealing a deathblow to the slave trade in this part 
of the continent. In fact, the main reasons for con- 
structing the railway were to suppress the slave trade 
and to strengthen the position of the British in Uganda. 
Of this last-named section, which, properly speaking, 
should be called Buganda, it is well to say a little 
something because of the rather extraordinary diver- 
sity of physical aspects which it presents. There are 
mountain peaks forever snow-capped, elevated table- 
lands that offer every attraction of climate and condition 
for life that one could ask, primeval forests which are 
almost impassable, so closely grow the trees and under- 
brush ; but there are, too, great swamps and arid regions 
utterly devoid of attraction. The most remarkable 
peak is Mt. Elgon, an extinct volcano with a crater that 
is ten miles in diameter and the top more than fourteen 
thousand feet above sea-level. Near the northern shore 
of Lake Victoria Nyanza are the famous Ripon Falls, 
discovered by Speke in 1862 and subsequently proved 
by Stanley to be the only outlet of the lake, just at 
Napoleon Gulf. The Nile is here fully four or five 
hundred feet wide and is well said to be "fully born." 
In Uganda are found the Pigmy-prognathons, "the 



EASTERN AFRICA 155 

so-called 'Kongo pigmies' of Simliki forest, of Kiagwe 
in Buganda, and of the western flanks of Mt. Elgon, 
and the types of Forest Negroes." On Lake Victoria 
Nyanza there are steamboats which run in connection 
with trains from Mombasa; others are found on the 
Victoria Nile, called here also Somerset River, and on 
Lakes Ibrahim and Koja, as well as on Lake Albert 
Nyanza and the Mountain Nile. A short line of rail- 
way, fifty miles, is under construction from Jinja to 
Kakindu, along the valley of the Victoria Nile, from the 
place where it issues from the lake to the point, near 
Lake Koja, where the stream becomes navigable. The 
history of this province is very interesting and its perusal 
will repay the careful reader. 

German East Africa, stretching along the Indian 
Ocean from 4 to io° 40' south latitude, extends west- 
ward to Lake Nyasa, Lake Tanganyika, and Belgian 
Kongo. In the north it includes within its borders 
about one-half of the great Victoria Nyanza. From 
the British East Africa boundary, south to the neigh- 
bourhood of Bagamoyo (opposite Zanzibar Island), the 
narrow coast belt is similar to that of the British posses- 
sions; but then the mountains trend abruptly away from 
the sea and some run out in the great plain of the south- 
ern and western districts of this province. But in the 
northern part of the colony, about midway of the north- 
ern border and between the ocean and Lake Victoria 
Nyanza, are the loftiest peaks in all Africa — Mt. Kilima 
n'jaro (19,320 feet) and Mt. Meru (14,955 feet); while 
in their immediate vicinity are such a number of high 
mountains that the region may, with much propriety, 



156 AFRICA TO-DAY 

be called the Himalayas of Africa; for that name, it 
should be noted, means "Snow Abode." Railways, 
either built or under construction, are a trunk line from 
Dar es-Salaam through M'rogoro and Tabora to Ujiji 
on Lake Tanganyika; from Tabora a branch to M'wansa 
on Victoria Nyanza; and in the south from Kilwa 
through Wiedhafen to Lake Nyasa, to be carried on 
until connection is made with the British system (Cape 
to Cairo Railway) and into the southern part of Belgian 
Kongo. This last line will eventually be one of the 
most important "Across Africa" railways. 

As only the coast region of this country was known 
to strangers until well into the nineteenth century, 
we find that there are many Arabian and Indian 
merchants at the ports. In the interior there are many 
mixed races, Banta and Semitic; the preponderance 
among the inhabitants goes to the Swahili people. But 
the province is rapidly rilling up with immigrants from 
Europe and elsewhere. Even domestic slavery was 
suppressed from December 31, 1905, and since then all 
children born of slave parents are free. Before leaving 
this colony we must comment again upon the remarkable 
feature of its physical geography. In the north the 
Victoria Nyanza basin drains into the Mediterranean; 
in the west Tanganyika into the Atlantic, and in the 
south Nyasa into the Indian Ocean. The principal 
rivers within the colony make their way into the last- 
named ocean. 

Portuguese East Africa. The official title is the 
"State of East Africa." The coast-line extends from 
io° 40' south latitude to 2 6° 52', where the Portuguese 




Copyright, Underwood &° Underwood, N. Y. 

A "Country Store" in the Wilds of German East Africa 

Gaily printed calicoes from United States' mills 

are very popular sellers 



EASTERN AFRICA 157 

possessions join those of Great Britain; from north to 
south the distance is about 1430 miles. To the west 
are the British South Africa States, and the total area is 
about 293,500 square miles; yet the population (in 
1909) was only 3,120,000. The colony includes the 
island of Mozambique, the name of which was formerly 
that of the whole territory. Save at Pemba, about 
midway of the coast (where there is ample anchorage 
for vessels of large size), the harbours are poor and few. 

The whole coast region and that portion of the Zam- 
besi valley adjacent to the river are very unhealthy, but 
the higher lands of the interior offer a salubrious cli- 
mate. Wild animals are plenty, and plants, both tropical 
and those of cooler zones, are abundant, so that the 
province still holds attractions for the naturalist. 
Communications, despite a certain apathy on the part 
of the Portuguese Government and private promoters, 
are reasonably good for such a colony. In Portuguese 
territory the Zambesi is navigable for light draft 
steamboats, except at the Kebressa (Karao-bassa) 
rapids, four hundred miles from the river's mouth, 
and these are as yet an insuperable obstacle. The 
Shire branch of the Zambesi gives direct communi- 
cation, by boat and rail, with British South African 
possessions. 

There is a railway from Lourenco Marques into 
Swaziland and the Transvaal, which will be alluded to 
again in a later chapter. Another line extends from 
Beira, on the coast, to Mashonaland, Rhodesia. A light, 
narrow gauge line runs inland from Inhambane (an 
indifferent harbour, about 24 south latitude) for some 



158 AFRICA TO-DAY 

fifty miles and affords facilities for getting into Gaza- 
land. Other lines are under construction; Beira to 
Sena, on the Zambesi, and from Quilimane to the same 
river. There are caravan routes in all parts of the 
colony, but these are nothing more than very indifferent 
trails along which travel is difficult and very slow. The 
whole trade of the colony amounts to some fifty million 
dollars annually, but altogether too large a part of it 
consists of very inferior wines imported from Europe 
and sold to the natives, in both Portuguese and British 
dominions, at low prices, with results that do not make 
for the best civilisation. The history of this section is 
interesting, especially in those chapters which treat of 
the jealousies and conflicts of British and Portuguese 
for possession and for trade. 

It would be remiss to leave East Africa without men- 
tion of the Nyika, that lovely wonderland which seems 
to have exercised a strange fascination upon every travel- 
ler who has come within its influence. It is a strange 
medley of forest and glade in such endless change that 
the visitor sometimes becomes surfeited with its weird 
beauty and wonderful effects. The air possesses a 
tropical brightness and plays strange tricks upon the 
eye, making small objects appear great ones, till gnus 
are metamorphosed into elephants, ostriches become 
rhinoceroses, zebras turn into wild asses! 

We take leave, for the time being, of East Africa with 
a touch of human nature, borrowed from an American 
explorer and sportsman — a dance in the Meru country. 
After certain preliminaries, such as obtaining permission 
of the strangers, and this carried with it reasonable 



EASTERN AFRICA 159 

consideration of some kind as well as the approval of 
the " doctor" who acted as master of ceremonies, "the 
dance then commenced, and it was a most weird and 
wild affair. The Witch Doctor first took the precaution 
of placing a guard around us, so that none of the excited 
warriors might do us an injury while in the half -frenzied 
state. The warriors, decked out in their semi-Masai 
garb and painted hideously, then formed up in two com- 
panies in front of us, one on our right and the other on 
our left. Groups of from four to six advanced from 
each side, and with savage shouts and yells dashed at 
each other, bounding into the air with great leaps and 
making their spears quiver in their hands. They circled 
round in front of us, feigning to attack each other and 
making fierce passes in the air, leaping and yelling all 
the time, until one party retired pursued by the other. 
This was repeated time after time, until the whole of the 
company had in turn taken part in the display, after 
which the two companies united and went round us in a 
great circle, springing and bounding and hurling defiant 
words at their absent enemy — in this case the warriors 
of a chief called Thularia, whose district adjoined. Dur- 
ing all the time that the war-dance was going on, the 
women of the tribe kept away at a discreet distance, 
not daring to come near. Now, however, on its con- 
clusion, they approached, decked out in all the finery 
of the Meru belles, and each with a broad smile on her 
face, without any bashfulness or timidity, selected a fa- 
vourite warrior, and a peace ingoma commenced. In this 
the performers made a ring, the men on the outside and 
the women on the inside, facing each other. Then, with 



l6o AFRICA TO-DAY 

hands on each other's shoulders, they commenced an up- 
and-down motion, raising themselves on their toes and 
then sinking down again on their heels, accompanied by a 
monotonous chant which was weirdly interrupted now 
and then by the beating of the war drum or the savage 
yell of an excited warrior. . . . The festivities were kept 
up throughout the day, nor did they cease at nightfall, 
as, while I lay awake, far into the night, I could plainly 
hear the fiendish sounds of the heathen revelry." 



CHAPTER XI 

WESTERN AFRICA 

THIS section presents such a number of states and 
colonies, and some of them are so small, yet by 
no means unimportant, while others are almost conti- 
nental in size, that it is somewhat difficult to do the 
subject full justice within the limits of that small space 
we have assigned to it. Besides, there must almost of 
necessity be some repetition, because such colonies as 
those of France, Spain, and other European Powers, 
while properly included in Western Africa, in reality 
stretch back into the territory of the Sahara and Central 
Africa. 

Beginning at the extreme northern and western parts 
of the section, we shall find that the Spanish colony, 
Rio d' Oro, first engages our attention. Its northern 
border, where it adjoins Morocco, has been but recently 
defined; the most northerly point claimed by Spain is 
Cape Bojador. The southern and eastern lines of Rio 
d' Oro are clearly determined by the French-Spanish 
convention of 1900. As this colony is in reality only a 
part of the Sahara, it is practically all desert, for there 
are but few oases and these are small; consequently 
the water supply is almost nil. It follows, therefore, 
that the population is very scant; no reliable statis- 
tics are available. In the estimated area of seventy 

161 



162 AFRICA TO-DAY 

thousand square miles the people are almost all Arabs 
or Berbers, and Mahommedans, of course. 

The name of the colony comes from the fact that 
the Portuguese discoverers, in the fifteenth century, 
mistook the small estuary, to which they gave the name 
Rio d' Oro, for a river; and because they obtained con- 
siderable gold dust from the natives they fancied the 
place was rich in that precious metal. The estuary, or 
narrow bay, runs back into the land for some twenty-two 
miles; at its mouth it is five miles wide and it is navigable 
for more than two-thirds of its length. Were it not for a 
sandbar, which is not easily passed in rough weather, 
the estuary would be an excellent harbour, for there is 
good holding ground and plenty of water in the broad 
channel. Between the estuary and the sea there is a 
slender peninsula twenty-three miles in length, from 
two miles to one and a quarter wide, and only twenty 
feet above sea-level. 

The principal Spanish settlement, Villa Cisneros, is at 
about the central point of the coast-line, where the cli- 
mate is generally temperate and the place not specially 
unhealthy except in the autumn. In 1885 Spain took 
possession of the coast between Capes Bojador and 
Blanco and attempted to exercise protectorate rights 
somewhat indefinitely back into the interior. This 
latter was resisted by France, already claiming protecto- 
rate over the whole western Sahara, and the question 
was adjusted in 1900, as has been stated. The principal 
exports are esparto grass and manzanilla (the common 
chamomile). The wild animals are mostly small. The 
natives rear a few cattle, sheep, and camels. But a 



WESTERN AFRICA 163 

remarkable contrast may be drawn between the lean 
earth and the bounteous sea, which is teeming with life. 
Fishing is an important industry, the principal catch 
being cod, and this is carried on by the inhabitants of 
the Canary Islands and by Frenchmen. 

We next group together most of the French posses- 
sions in this section of Africa; viz., Senegal, Upper 
Senegal and Niger, Guinea (French), the Ivory Coast, 
the territory of Mauretania, and that large part of the 
Sahara included in French West Africa. In area it is 
nearly two million square miles (Europe is 3,760,000 
square miles), but more than half of it is desert. Its 
outlines may be roughly denned as the greater part of 
Africa west of the Niger delta (British territory) and 
south of the Tropic of Cancer; and thus it will be under- 
stood that it includes the territory along the upper and 
middle course of the Niger River, the entire Senegal basin, 
and the extreme southwestern portion of the Sahara. 
The most northern point on the coast is Cape Blanco, 
where it joins the Spanish colony just described, and it 
thence takes in all the coast down to the British settle- 
ment of Gambia, thus including Cape Verde, the most 
western point of the continent. It then sweeps back 
towards the east, forming the hinterland of numerous 
colonies, either independent or protectorates of other 
European Powers, except when, as in the case of French 
Guinea, the Ivory Coast, and Dahomey, itself dips down 
to the Atlantic or Gulf of Guinea; and again, on the 
north, these possessions in French West Africa them- 
selves are the hinterlands of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunis. 

While not yet precisely defined, perhaps, we may as 



164 AFRICA TO-DAY 

well say that the eastern boundary of this enormous 
tract is the frontier of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. 
Sufficient has already been said of the Sudan part and 
we now content ourselves with a hasty discussion of the 
western section. When apposite, we may adopt the 
description given in the authority already mentioned, and 
say that there are three marked physical characteristics 
to be noted: first, a dense forest region back of a narrow 
coast belt which is greatly broken by inlets and lagoons; 
second, a region, small in comparison with the vast size 
of the whole, of moderately elevated and fertile plains, 
seldom rising higher than two thousand feet above sea- 
level; and third, that great section, north of the Senegal 
and Niger Rivers, that trends away into the Sahara 
Desert. The most elevated districts are far away in the 
west, the Futa Jallon territory, back of French Guinea, 
where we find the ultimate sources of the Niger, the 
Senegal, and the Gambia Rivers, and in the Gon (or 
Gona) region, both presenting mountain ranges along 
the southern edge of the desert plateau and in which are 
peaks rising to six thousand feet or more. 

The chief towns of this French West Africa are Tim- 
buctoo, Jenne, and Segu, on the Niger, Porto Novo, in 
Dahomey, St. Louis and Dakai, in Senegal. The last 
named is probably the most important from the French 
point of view, because it is a naval base besides being a 
thriving commercial seaport. The majority of the 
inhabitants of this western region are typical negroes, 
although in Senegal and the Sahara there is a strong 
admixture of Berber and Arab blood; and yet a most 
liberal estimate of the population puts the total at only 




Copyright, Underwood 6° Underwood, N. Y. 

Throne Room in the Sultan's Palace at Zanzibar 



WESTERN AFRICA 165 

about thirteen millions, of whom some twelve thousand 
are Europeans. 

In the upper lands the flora is often magnificent. The 
fertile hillsides are covered with baobab, tamarind, and 
other valuable forest trees. Some of the baobab (Adan- 
sonia digitata) at twenty-four feet from the ground are 
thirty-four feet in diameter. There are, too, many vari- 
eties of the acacia; one of them {Acacia Adansonia) 
makes excellent ship timber. Palms are numerous, of 
course. The wood of the ronier (palm) resists moisture 
and the attacks of insects most wonderfully. In some 
places, Cayor for example, this tree forms magnificent 
forests. There are, too, many rubber plants. The 
soil in a goodly part of Upper Senegal and Niger is 
remarkably fertile, producing rice, Indian corn, millet, 
melons, manioc, grapes, bananas, and other fruits. 
There is, too, rich pasturage of guinea-grass, and the 
people own large herds of cattle and sheep. The fauna 
is hardly entitled to much consideration as compared 
with the superabundance and character of East African 
animal life. 

Strictly speaking according to French official defini- 
tion, the colony of Senegal means the towns of Dakar, 
St. Louis, Gorce, and Rufisque, a narrow strip along 
the Dakar-St. Louis railway, and a few other detached 
places. Its area then, is only about four hundred and 
forty square miles, and the population, in 1904, 
something over one hundred thousand. Politically, 
however, the colony includes certain native states 
under French administration, and therefore has an area 
of nearly seventy-five thousand square miles and a 



l66 AFRICA TO-DAY 

population approaching the two million mark. One of 
the most important of these protected states is Bondu, 
visited by Mungo Park, who had a very rough experi- 
ence there. Later Major W. Gray, when trying to 
determine the source and course of the Niger, found 
the capital, which had been Fatteconde in Park's time, 
transferred to Bulibani. A railway connects Dakar 
with St. Louis. The Senegal is navigable during high 
water — August to November — for a long distance, to 
Kayes, whence another line goes to the Niger. There 
is, besides, direct railway connection between Dakar 
and the Niger by way of Thies to Kayes. This colony 
is well equipped with telegraph lines and there is a cable 
from Dakar to Brest, France. 

The colony of Upper Senegal and Niger is bounded 
on the north by the Saharan territory which comes 
under the jurisdiction of Algeria; on the west by Senegal 
and the Mauretania district; on the south b}' the French 
colonies of Guinea and the Ivory Coast, the Northern 
Territories of the Gold Coast (British), Togoland (Ger- 
man), and Dahomey (French). On the east the Mili- 
tary Territories (French and accounted a part of this 
colony) extend to Lake Chad in French Equatorial 
Africa — the official name given in 1910 to all French 
possessions in equatorial Africa, consisting of the Chad 
Circumscription, the Ubangi-Shari Circumscription, the 
Middle Kongo Colony, and the Gabun Colony; the two 
first named divisions form the Ubangi-Shari-Chad Col- 
ony. The colony is bounded on the south by Nigeria 
(British). It thus contains, practically, all the French 
possessions in northwest and central Africa, is over 



WESTERN AFRICA 167 

two hundred thousand square miles in area, yet has a 
population of some three millions only. A specially 
interesting factor of this population are the Fulas (vari- 
ous alternate names), who are now a conspicuous 
example of what improperly assimilated European civil- 
isation is responsible for in spoiling Africans. These 
Fulas are probably a mixture of Berber and Negro 
stocks; they certainly are not Egyptian. They were 
good soldiers, especially cavalry-men; but they are 
now luxurious, idle, and getting to be worthless. 

Returning to the Atlantic coast, we find the little 
British colony of Gambia, at the mouth of the river of 
that same name, "wedged into Senegal and surrounded 
by it save seawards." It is the most northerly of 
British West African possessions, comprising strips on 
both sides of the river running inland about two hundred 
miles. Although the area of the whole dependency is 
in the neighbourhood of four thousand square miles 
and the population one hundred and sixty- three thou- 
sand, as estimated in 1907, yet the British Government 
considers the colony as restricted to the tract immedi- 
ately at the river's mouth, about seventy square miles. 
Above this the sphere of British influence extends for 
about six miles on each side of the stream, and within 
it are some petty native states, such as Barra and 
Komm'bo. The climate during the dry season — 
November to January inclusive — is the best in this part 
of the coast, and at other seasons it is not so very bad, 
Gambia being a fairly healthy place, all things consid- 
ered; doubtless the persistent crusade against mosquitoes 
has had much to do with this. Bathurst is the chief 



l68 AFRICA TO-DAY 

town, population some eight thousand, and is an 
interesting example of the small British colonial town. 
Considerable gold was formerly sent from here, but that 
industry has practically ceased, although some gold 
dust may still be bought. There are some interesting 
but inexplicable archaeological remains, stone circles and 
posts apparently akin to the Druids' work; these are 
still venerated by Mohammedans. Slavery was finally 
suppressed, in every form, only in 1906. 

Portuguese Guinea extends along the coast from Cape 
Roxo to the Cogon estuary and inland until it reaches 
the Casamance district of (French) Senegal on the north: 
on the east and south it is bounded by French Guinea. 
The area is about fourteen thousand square miles and 
the population is variously estimated at from two to 
eight hundred thousand. The land is mostly low and 
the climate unhealthy. Several of the rivers are navi- 
gable, some of them for one hundred and fifty miles, 
but the navigation is awkward. The history of this 
colony takes us back to the first half of the fifteenth 
century and recalls the joy of the early navigators upon 
finding the coast bearing off to the east; thus holding out 
a promise of speedily circumnavigating Africa. In the 
nineteenth century the United States figures in the his- 
tory, for in 1870 President Grant, acting as arbitrator, 
disallowed Great Britain's claim to the island of Bulama 
and a part of the mainland. Portugal has done almost 
nothing towards developing the colony, and consequently 
it is of little importance. "If, however, agriculture and 
commerce suffer, the ethnologist and zoologist find in 
this easily accessible little enclave a rich field for inves- 



WESTERN AFRICA 169 

tigation, the almost nominal sovereignty of Portugal 
having left the country, practically uninfluenced by 
European culture, in much the same condition that it 
was in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries." 

French Guinea. This was formerly called Rivieres 
du Sud, and it is peculiarly irregular in shape. On the 
southwest it faces the Atlantic; on the northwest and 
north it is bounded by Portuguese Guinea and Senegal; 
on the east and southeast by Upper Senegal and the 
Ivory Coast Colony (French), and on the south by 
Sierra Leone (British) and Liberia (independent) . The 
coast runs N.N.W. and S.S.E. between latitude io° 50' 
and 9 2' north, only one hundred and seventy miles. 
The area is approximately one hundred thousand square 
miles, and the inhabitants number about two and a half 
millions. The important district of Futa Jallon is in 
the western part, just back of that which still bears 
the name of Rivieres du Sud. The climate is usually 
very bad, but the Niger basin is fairly healthy. The 
history of the coast region is intimately associated with 
the adventures of the early Portuguese explorers, who 
pushed down into this part of the world in the fif- 
teenth century. Physically, the accounts to be given 
of Sierra Leone, Liberia, and the Ivory Coast apply 
to French Guinea with reasonable precision. 

A British protectorate was declared in 1906 over the 
coast district of Sierra Leone as well as a large area of 
the dependent interior, and the colony now is some 
thirty thousand square miles in area. Under British 
direction the development has been rather remarkable; 
there is a railway from Freetown through Waterloo to 



170 AFRICA TO-DAY 

Songatown, and across the Ribbi River to Rotafunk 
and Bo. The trade of the colony has already attained 
appreciable proportions, the share of the United States 
amounting to some $300,000 annually and steadily 
increasing. 

Liberia. This negro republic is east of Sierra Leone 
and west of the (French) Ivory Coast Colony; its coast- 
line is about three hundred miles in length. The north- 
ern boundary is quite irregular, so that the width of the 
republic varies much; but the greatest breadth is about 
two hundred miles in a northeast to southwest direc- 
tion. The frontiers on the north and east were indefi- 
nite until adjusted with France in 1907, since which 
date the territory is rather larger than was indicated 
on maps prior to that time. The area is now forty- 
one thousand square miles. The geographical position 
of this little republic gives it a strategic importance 
that deserves attention ; it is just at the shoulder of the 
continent, where the coast turns sharply to the east, 
and it is on the direct route of vessels plying between 
the United States or Europe and the West Coast of 
Africa or the Cape of Good Hope. Unfortunately, it 
has no good harbour, although the anchorage at Mon- 
rovia is safe, unless the weather is exceptionally bad 
from the southwest or south. A small artificial harbour 
could easily be made at Great Bassa without enormous 
expense. 

At certain places along the coast and in the river 
bottoms, the soil is swampy, but the general surface is 
hilly and even mountainous, some peaks rising to six or 
nine thousand feet above sea-level and giving oppor- 



WESTERN AFRICA 171 

tunities for the establishing of sanitaria. There are 
several rivers of some size, but the awkward bars are 
an obstacle to navigation. The coast belt, as all along 
this region, is unhealthy, but from about one hundred 
miles inland the climate becomes agreeable and the 
country is healthy. Broadly speaking, the whole terri- 
tory is covered with dense forests, which have been 
cut down in spots to permit of husbandry. The fauna 
and flora are sufficiently peculiar to attract the natu- 
ralist, and the possibilities have by no means been 
exhausted. 

The traditions and history of the republic are very 
interesting. The colony was founded as a home for 
manumitted slaves (Americans especially), but when 
Jehudi Ashmun (who is sometimes, inaccurately, called 
the "founder") visited it in 1822 it was in a deplorable 
state; yet under his direction, and with the assistance 
of Ralph Randolph Gurley, who in 1824 christened the 
place " Liberia," the colony was reorganised and put 
upon a permanent basis. In 1847 the colonists who had 
gone from America declared their country an independ- 
ent republic and its status, as such, was recognised by 
the great Powers, except the United States. Until 1857 
the colony may be said to have composed two inde- 
pendent republics, Liberia and Maryland, each having 
small settlements scattered along its coast, while exert- 
ing but little influence in the interior. Not unnaturally, 
disputes as to boundaries occurred with Great Britain 
and France, both of whom were disposed to encroach 
improperly; and it was not until 1903 that the line 
between Liberia and Sierra Leone was denned, that 



172 AFRICA TO-DAY 

between Liberia and the Ivory Coast being established 
later. Reports of this disposition to trespass reached 
America and in 1909 President Roosevelt appointed a 
commission to investigate the matter. Satisfactory 
results followed and United States officials were placed 
in charge of the Liberian Customs' service. In July, 
1 9 10, it was announced to the world that the American 
Government, acting with the consent of Great Britain, 
France, and Germany, would take charge of all ques- 
tions relating to the welfare of the republic. A loan of 
£500,000 was arranged with which to put the finances 
into satisfactory and sound condition. 

This fact of an "American Protectorate" in Africa 
has not received the attention that one would expect, 
but it is comforting to know that Europe has no 
fault to find with the intrusion. The need of a strong 
hand was made apparent by the futile attempt of the 
Liberian Government to control the natives of the Km 
coast (in the southern section of the republic), whose 
turbulence had led to trouble such as improper fines 
levied upon foreign steamships for unintentional breaking 
of regulations, or even to their being firing upon; and in 
1910 the natives near Cape Palmas, about Harper, were in 
open warfare with the Liberian authorities. In 1906 
the total revenue (gross) of the republic was upwards 
of $325,000 and the expenses about $300,000, but it 
must be noted that some of the revenue was collected 
in paper currency of doubtful value. There is much to 
be said of the interesting history of this Negro Republic, 
but space forbids. That there is yet plenty of work for 
sympathetic people, is demonstrated by the fact that 



WESTERN AFRICA 173 

even now most of the forest women go about naked; 
although it must also be said that the Mohammedan 
costume is becoming popular throughout the country. 
Sierra Leone and Liberia were included in what was 
formerly called the Grain Coast. 

East of Liberia is the French West African colony of 
Cote d'lvoire, the Ivory Coast; the name suggests the 
opinion held by the early European explorers. Its 
boundary on the west has been indicated; on the east it 
marches with the British Gold Coast Colony, etc., and 
on the north it borders upon the French colony of Upper 
Senegal and Niger. In area it is some 120,000 square 
miles and the population has been estimated, by the 
French, at 980,000 natives and some 600 Europeans; 
while other estimates run as high as two millions. The 
coast- line is 380 miles, without lagoon or promontory 
in the west; some lagoons towards the east; but there 
are no good harbours because of bars and heavy surf, 
The highest land is in the northwest, near the Liberian 
frontier, where there are some peaks estimated at 6000 
feet or more in altitude. The coast region is extremely 
unhealthy and yellow fever is there prevalent and viru- 
lent. This region has been called Cote des Dents, "Coast 
of the Teeth," and Kwa-Kwa because of the natives' 
imitation of the quacking of ducks. These names per- 
sisted until towards the close of the last century. 

The British Gold Coast Colony is a comprehensive 
name for the Gold Coast proper, and includes Ashanti 
and the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast which 
extend northward to the eleventh parallel of latitude, 
joining French possessions. A line separating the 



174 AFRICA TO-DAY 

foreland from Ashanti was fixed in 1906. These juris- 
dictions are all noted for their primeval, unopened 
forests, in which are hardwood trees of magnificent 
proportions; there are, also, bombax trees two hundred 
feet tall. But these forests are painfully monotonous, 
since there are no flowers, birds, or beasts. Ferns and 
brakes, some of enormous size, are abundant, and the 
mimosa grows to a height of from thirty to sixty feet. 
Where the forest has been cleared, the soil is fertile and 
it is cultivated with care. Twenty-five miles southeast 
of Kumasi, in Ashanti, is Lake Basumchioi, the sacred 
lake of the Ashantis. The history of the colony, inclu- 
sively speaking, is most interesting, as it is hardly neces- 
sary to state; for the many battlefields marked on our 
maps point to the numerous British expeditions. In the 
spring of 191 1 we received accounts of one of these 
against a refractory tribe in the Northern Territories, 
inhabiting the Sapan on Tong Hills close to the French 
frontier in the north. The operations took place in 
difficult, rocky country and were entirely successful, 
the machine-guns handled by the three or four hundred 
British troops proving too much for the natives. 

There is a railway from Kumasi to Akkar, via Man- 
goase, in the centre of the cocoa plantations, and another 
from Sekondi, on the coast to Kumasi; the latter serv- 
ing to exploit the gold fields, from which the output, in 
1905, amounted to considerably over $1,250,000 in 
value. There is a branch fine from Tarkwa to Prestia 
on the Ankobra River. There are, too, many circui- 
tous trails through the forests. The district is admin- 
istered as a crown colony, not being independent. The 



WESTERN AFRICA 175 

natives are still slaves to their fetishes, and it is worth 
mentioning that in early times, the King of Ashanti 
was compelled to have 3333 wives, because that was 
the number required by the " fetish," although a goodly 
part of them were nothing more than palace servants. 
The people display considerable skill in weaving cotton, 
moulding pottery, and making ornaments of silver and 
gold, both solid and plate, — a large quantity of this 
last mentioned work was found in the king's palace at 
Kumasi when the place was captured by the British in 
1874. In these various industries the influence of Moor- 
ish art is noticeable. The one-time independent Anlo 
tribes, whose territory appears in quite recent maps as 
a separate state, have been absorbed into the Northern 
Territories. 

Togoland (the name has no connection with the famous 
Japanese naval officer !) is a narrow strip, with a seaf ront 
of only thirty-two miles, which reaches back, between 
the British Gold Coast Colony, on the west, and Da- 
homey (French) on the east to the Upper Senegal and 
Niger colony on the north, where Togoland is something 
like one hundred miles or more wide. It was annexed 
by Germany in 1884. The area is estimated at 33,700 
square miles and the population at about one million. 
Physically, the colony is quite like the rest of this 
section. It is a part of the notorious and infamous old 
" Slave Coast"; very unhealthy along the sea and likely 
to be most uncomfortable in the north because of the 
hot, dry wind from the Sahara when the air is charged 
with fine sand, although the temperature may then fall 
even in midsummer. 



176 AFRICA TO-DAY 

We begin, in this colony, to come into touch with 
the interesting Hausa people, born traders, who roam 
over the country in large caravans. The contrast 
between the activity of the German colonists and the 
apathy of the Portuguese, as noted, is most marked in 
results. Togoland is rich in natural products which 
have been so well exploited that "it was the first German 
colony to dispense (1903- 1904) with an imperial subsidy 
towards its support." A railway connects the port of 
Lome with Little Popo, and this is to be continued into 
French territory and then northward to reach eventually 
Gaya on the Niger River, in northern Dahomey (or 
Upper Senegal and Niger, since the line of demarcation 
has not yet been clearly drawn by the French authorities). 
Another line goes from Lome to Misahohe and will be 
pushed on into the interior. There are also good wagon- 
roads everywhere. 

This coast, prior to German appropriation, had a 
most unsavoury reputation. At "the time when 'the 
scramble for Africa ' began, the narrow strip of coast over 
which the King of Togo ruled was the sole district 
between the Gambia and the Niger to which Great 
Britain, France, or some other civilised power had not a 
claim. At Togo, Bremen merchants had trading sta- 
tions, and taking advantage of this fact Dr. Gustav 
Nachtigal, German imperial commissioner, induced the 
King of Togo (July 5, 1884) to place his colony under 
German suzerainty. The claims made by Germany to 
large areas of the hinterland gave rise to considerable 
negotiations with France and Great Britain, and it was 
not until 1899 that the frontiers were fixed on all sides." 



WESTERN AFRICA 177 

The peaceful progress of the colony has since been steady. 
At stated intervals the native chiefs are summoned to 
Lome, the capital, to discuss with the German officials 
about matters relating to special or general government. 

Dahomey. This French colony reaches from the Gulf 
of Guinea north to the indefinite limits of the old, 
familiar kingdom of Dahomey. Although it has a coast- 
line of only seventy-five miles, between Togoland on the 
west and Nigeria (British) on the east, it spreads out so 
much in the north that the area is about forty thou- 
sand square miles; the population is estimated at over 
one million. There are four well-marked seasons: "the 
harmattan or long dry season, from the first of Decem- 
ber to the fifteenth of March; the season of the great 
rains, from the fifteenth of March to the fifteenth of 
July; the short dry season, from the fifteenth of July 
to the fifteenth of September; and the 'little rains/ 
from the fifteenth of September to the first of Decem- 
ber." Along the coast it is always hot, the yearly 
average being 8o° F. 

The Dahomey s (who call themselves Fon or Fawin) 
are a very interesting people. They are tall, well- 
formed, proud, reserved in demeanour, polite in their 
intercourse with strangers, warlike, and keen traders. 
There is another class, the Minas, who are remark- 
able surf -men. Kotomi is the chief port and seat of 
government. From here the railway starts for Gaya 
(see Togoland); it is a narrow gauge line, one metre, 
3.28 feet. As there is almost always a Seabreeze 
Kotomi, despite the heat, is a comparatively healthy 
place for white men. There is a short branch rail- 



178 AFRICA TO-DAY 

way from the main line into the western part of the 
colony. There are, in addition to the steam railways, 
many electric tramway lines. One, twenty-eight miles 
long, connects Porto Novo with Sakete close to the 
British frontier (Nigeria) in the direction of Logos. 
The reader who is interested in history will naturally 
give some attention to the awful, bloody orgies known 
as "Dahomey Customs"; but an account of them is too 
long to be inserted here. 

The great British protectorate of Nigeria includes the 
lower basin of the Niger River, the country between that 
river and Lake Chad, — thus reaching back into Central 
Africa, — and includes the Fula empire, that is the 
Hausa states, as well as the greater part of the former 
Bornu sultanate. Its area is somewhere about three 
hundred and thirty-eight thousand square miles and 
the population is estimated at fifteen million souls. 
There are three distinct climatic and physical regions: 
the delta of the Niger and the coast, the forest lands, 
and the high plateau of the interior. There are many 
rivers, and ocean-going steamships can ascend some of 
them for distances varying from fifteen to forty miles. 
A peculiarity to be noted of the Niger and Benue 
Rivers is their very slight fall in their lower reaches; 
at the confluence of these rivers, some two hundred and 
fifty miles from the sea, the altitude is only two hundred 
and fifty feet. Nigeria, on the southeast, joins the 
German colony of Kameruns. 

The rivers are the most important factor for internal 
communication. A railway of the standard Central 
and South African gauge (3 ft. 6 in.) runs from 



WESTERN AFRICA 179 

Lagos to Ibadan, sixty miles inland. It is to be 
extended on through Oshogbo, Ilorin, Jebba, and Zungeru 
to She, and here a junction will be effected with the Baro- 
Kano line. A short light line, laid on the surface of the 
ground without permanent way, has been built from 
Baryuko, on the Kaduna River, in the northern part of 
the colony, to the capital, Zungeru; it is successful and 
remunerative. Another standard gauge line (3 ft. 6 in.) 
leaves the Niger River at Baro and goes via Bida and 
Zarra to Kano, about four hundred miles. There are, 
also, good wagonroads pretty well over the whole terri- 
tory. Regular steamship service is maintained with 
Liverpool and up and down the African coast. The 
trade is principally in " jungle produce," and there are 
considerable exports of rubber, ebony, etc. In former 
times this trade was entirely in the hands of Arabs, who 
carried their purchases to Tripoli by caravan across the 
desert. This has been practically discontinued. 

Kameruns, from the Portuguese Camaroes, "Prawns," 
and therefore justifying the English Cameroon, is a large 
West African German colony, bounded on the north- 
west by Nigeria; on the north by Lake Chad; on the 
east and south by French Kongo, except the short stretch 
of the Spanish colony, Muni. Its area is estimated at 
one hundred and ninety thousand square miles and its 
population at three and a half millions, of whom about 
twelve hundred are white. It is in the northwest 
corner of the great Central African plateau, and the 
hills reach almost to the Atlantic, but there is a narrow 
strip of low coast. Good grass land is found in the south, 
and quantities of hardwood, valuable for cabinet making, 



l8o AFRICA TO-DAY 

are taken from the vast forests. The colony is rich in 
natural products; e.g., oil-palm, rubber plants, etc. 
Wild animals are plentiful, and include some of the great 
pachyderms and carnivora. Duala is the chief town. 
Steamship lines ply between the colony and Germany 
and England; on the rivers there are many lines of 
steam-launch service. One railway goes from Hickory 
to Bayong, one hundred miles, to Victoria, Sappo near 
Buea, thence northward; another, from Duala to the 
upper-waters of the Nyong. The history of the colony 
is connected with the name of Fernando Po. 

The Spanish Settlement of Muni. The same agree- 
ment between France and Spain which established the 
boundaries of Rio d' Oro, as has been stated, likewise 
settled a dispute over a tiny bit of land at the mouth 
of the River Muni, wedged in between Kameruns and 
French Kongo. Along the coast it extends from the 
Campo River to the Muni River. The northern frontier 
is Kamerun; the eastern boundary is n° 20' East, and 
the southern is the first parallel of north latitude to its 
point of intersection with the Muni River. 

French Kongo. In 19 10 this was officially renamed 
French Equatorial Africa. It comprises the Gabun 
Colony, the Middle Kongo Colony, Ubangi-Shari Cir- 
cumscription and Chad Circumscription; the two last- 
named divisions forming the Ubangi-Shari-Chad Colony 
(see Upper Senegal and Niger). It is most irregular in 
shape. It is bounded by the Atlantic on the west; by 
the Spanish Muni River Settlement, the German colony 
of Kameruns, and the Sahara on the north; by the 
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan on the east, and by the Portu- 



WESTERN AFRICA l8l 

guese territory of Kabinda and Belgian Kongo on the 
south. For the greater part of its length the southern 
frontier is the middle course of the Kongo, the Ubangi 
and the M'bomu, the chief northern affluent of the 
Kongo; but in the southwest the French frontier keeps 
north of the river, whose navigable lower course is 
divided between Portugal and Belgium. The estimated 
area of the whole colony is seven hundred thousand 
square miles, and the population from six to ten 
millions. 

The large part of the coast is backed by primeval 
forest, with trees one hundred and fifty to two hundred 
feet tall. The scenery is most pleasingly varied — 
open lagoons, mangrove swamps, scattered shrubs and 
trees, park-like reaches, dense walls of tangled under- 
wood along the rivers, prairies of tall grass, and patches 
of cultivation. Behind the coast region are the Crystal 
Mountains, springing up three thousand to forty-five 
hundred feet; further on is a plateau with an elevation 
varying from fifteen to twenty-eight hundred feet. 
The rivers run in deep clefts, with steep walls, almost 
perpendicular; in some places as much as seven hun- 
dred and sixty feet high. Across this varied country 
the rivers traverse four defined terraces. The climate, 
in general, is hot and dangerous. The fauna is what 
might reasonably be expected. The huge Cardisoma 
armatum (heart-crab) is kept in tanks and carefully 
fattened for the table. Of the flora, baobab, silk-cotton, 
screw-pines, and palm trees are plentiful. 

The rivers afford the principal means of communica- 
tion and give access to a greater part for ocean steam- 



l82 AFRICA TO-DAY 

ships as far as Matahdi on the lower Kongo; then round 
the falls by railway to Stanley Pool. From Brazzaville, 
on Stanley Pool there are six hundred and eighty miles 
of uninterrupted steam navigation northeast right away 
into the heart of Africa, three hundred and thirty on 
the Kongo and three hundred and fifty on the Ubango. 
At the farthest point is Zongo, where there are rapids; 
but beyond are several navigable stretches along the 
Ubango, and for small steamers there is access to the 
Nile by means of the Bahr el-Ghazal tributaries. The 
Sanga joins the Kongo two hundred and seventy miles 
from Bezoe and is navigable three hundred and fifty 
miles to and beyond Kannu. The Shari also is navi- 
gable for a considerable distance, and by means of 
its tributary, the Logone, connects with the Benue 
and the Niger, affording a waterway between the Gulf 
of Guinea and Lake Chad. Stores for the military 
and government posts are forwarded by this route. 
There is, however, no connecting link between the 
coast rivers — Gabun, Ogowe, and Kwilu — and the 
Kongo system. A railway, five hundred miles long, 
is under construction from Gabun to Sanga. Another 
is proposed from Loango to Bizol. A narrow gauge line, 
one metre, begun in 1908, was the first railway in 
French Kongo; it serves to develop rich copper and 
other mines. There is still in commission the caravan 
route via Wadai across the Sahara to Bengazi on 
the Mediterranean. There are sundry telegraph lines 
throughout the territory. Very large landed estates 
were granted to Limited Liability Companies, the con- 
cessionaires representing a capital of £4,000,000, the 




Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. 

Eternal Snow Almost on the Equator 
An American explorer climbing Mt. Kibo (Kilima 
njaro), igjoo jeet high in East Central Africa 



WESTERN AFRICA 183 

concessions ranging in size from four hundred and 
twenty-five to fifty-four thousand square miles. It was 
felt that the French Government was discriminating un- 
fairly in favour of these companies, and certain Liverpool 
merchants, having made considerable private invest- 
ments in good faith, entered a protest which was waived 
aside with a legal quibble. The matter was taken up 
by the British Foreign Office and in September, 1908, 
the merchants won their point. 

Kabinda is a small Portuguese possession north of the 
mouth of the Kongo River, only three thousand square 
miles in area. It resembles in every way the coast 
region of the Kongo. The chief town is Kabinda, a 
seaport. The colony is noted for its beauty and fertil- 
ity, and it is called the Paradise of the Coast; its 
harbour is sheltered and commodious, with four fathoms 
of water. The place was a slave market, as were most 
of the ports to the north. The inhabitants are Bantu- 
Negroes, called Kabindas; they are intelligent, energetic, 
and enterprising, daring sailors and active traders. 

Kongo Free State was the name given by British writers 
to the Etat Independent de Congo. It was formally 
annexed to Belgium in 1908. It is the development of 
the private venture of a royal investor, King Leopold II, 
who became the official head of the state in 1885. For 
the interesting history, reference may be had to a large 
number of special books and all encyclopaedias. The 
United States was the first to recognise the " International 
Association of the Kongo," on April 22, 1884. Other 
Powers followed promptly. In 1885 and 1886 various 
protocols and agreements were entered into to determine 



184 AFRICA TO-DAY 

the boundaries. The final result was that the Kongo 
Free State had for neighbours France, Portugal, and 
Great Britain on the north, Great Britain and Germany 
on the east, and Great Britain and Portugal on the 
south. King Leopold's greatest desire was to push 
forward the northeastern section until he could reach 
the Nile, and this was eventually accomplished. Fla- 
grant maladministration became apparent and the most 
heartless cruelty to natives was openly charged. Condi- 
tions became so notorious, especially in the Domaine 
de la Couronne, that a British Commission of Inquiry 
was appointed. The Commission's report, but without 
the full evidence, was submitted in 1902, and the scandal 
of the Kongo Rubber Trade became an open one, which 
aroused indignation in all parts of the civilised world. 
In November, 1908, the state ceased to exist as an inde- 
pendent domain, and sovereign rights were assumed 
immediately by Belgium, since which time the disgraceful 
proceedings have been suppressed, at least in a measure. 
The coast-line is only twenty-five miles long, yet the 
total area is estimated at nine hundred thousand square 
miles, almost wholly in the Kongo Basin, and the popu- 
lation at from fourteen to thirty millions. It touches 
the Nile Valley on the east and all the western shore 
of Lake Tanganyika as well as northern Rhodesia; on 
the south, Angola of Portuguese West Africa. Living- 
stone's description of this territory is most interesting. 
The inhabitants are almost all Bantu-Negroes, but 
there are some pygmies who were probably aborigines. 
There is a railway from Matadi, one hundred and 
eighty-five miles from the mouth of the Kongo, past 



WESTERN AFRICA 185 

the cataracts to Stanley Pool. It is two hundred and 
sixty miles long and cost £2,720,000. From Stanley 
Falls another railway goes towards the Nile. Great 
Britain, in 1906, agreed to co-operate in its construc- 
tion from Belgian Kongo through the Lado Enclave 
to the navigable Nile near Lado, it being contemplated 
to establish a joint service of steamboats and railways 
from the Kongo's mouth to the Red Sea. Another rail- 
way, seventy-nine miles long, follows the left bank of 
the Kongo from Stanley Falls past the rapids to Pon- 
thierville, whence there is a navigable waterway, three 
hundred miles, to Nyangiwe and from there by the 
Lado railway to Lake Tanganyika. At Nyangiwe on 
the main stream another railway passes round the next 
cataracts into Upper Lualabe. The total steam con- 
nection is 2150 miles, 1548 by water and 596 by rail. 
Another line, ninety miles, goes from Boma into May- 
umbe. The Katanga district, as has been already stated, 
is served almost wholly from Rhodesia. The colony is 
included in the Postal Union. 

The Portuguese possessions in Southwest Africa are 
now known officially as the Province of Angola, a name 
corrupted by the Portuguese from the Bantu word 
Ngola which was for a time restricted to the coast 
between the Dande and Kwanza Rivers, one hundred 
and five miles, including the territory just back thereof. 
Save for that part of the eastern boundary which 
marches with Rhodesia, in Barotseland, and the southern 
line along the German possessions, the frontiers have 
been already sufficiently indicated. This is a very large 
colony, nearly half a million square miles in area and 



186 AFRICA TO-DAY 

having a population that, in 1906, was estimated at over 
four millions. While there are sundry small bays and 
one deep inlet — Great Fish Bay (Bahia dos Tigres) — 
there is only one fairly good harbour, Lobito Bay, where 
large ships may discharge cargo close inshore. The 
low, rather swampy, coast region is unhealthy for 
Europeans, but in the highlands of the interior, say 
from thirty-three hundred feet upwards, the air is brac- 
ing. The fauna and flora display no marked features 
which differentiate them from other adjacent parts of 
tropical West Africa. There are many rubber plants, 
but something must be done by the officials to conserve 
them or this valuable asset will be lost irrevocably. 

Most of the inhabitants are of the Bantu-Negro stock, 
and along the coast the natives still retain traces of the 
influence of the successful Christian propaganda of the 
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. " Crucifixes are 
used as potent fetish charms or as symbols of power 
passing down from chief to chief; whilst every native 
has a 'Santu' or Christian name and is dubbed dom or 
dona." In the east of the province there are settle- 
ments of Boers, numbering some two thousand persons, 
and along the coast there are a good many whites, 
most of them Portuguese. 

Angola is rich in its agricultural and mineral possi- 
bilities, which have been exploited in a way, although 
the prosperity still depends upon " jungle products." 
Copper, iron, petroleum, gold, and rock-salt are to be 
had in quantities, and the native blacksmiths have 
a well deserved reputation for their good work. 

There are plenty of steamship lines, both to Euro- 



WESTERN AFRICA 187 

pean ports and coastwise. The railway, about three 
hundred miles in length, from Loando to Ambaca and 
Malanje, is notorious as being the most costly of the 
tropical Africa lines; it cost something like $45,000 per 
mile. The original plan was to carry this railway 
right across Africa to Mozambique, thus linking up 
the Portuguese colonies on the east and the west of 
the continent; but this project has been given up, 
for the time being, certainly. There is another rail- 
way from Lobita Bay towards the Kongo-Rhodesia 
frontier; this is a British enterprise. Besides these, 
there are a few short, local, industrial lines. The old 
caravan routes and ox-cart roads are still used, and 
oxen are much liked as saddle-animals. The history 
of this colony connects it with that most interesting 
period, the fifteenth century, of Portuguese adventure. 
After recovering from the effects of the blow which the 
abolition of negro slavery dealt, the agricultural resources 
have been better exploited and merchants from Brazil 
have figured extensively in the development of the 
country. The military, punitive expeditions of the Por- 
tuguese against the turbulent natives, notoriously the 
Kunahamas, make an especially interesting chapter in 
the history. 

German South West Africa. Before discussing this 
large territory a few words may be said about the thriv- 
ing little British settlement, Walfish Bay, just north 
of the Tropic of Capricorn. It is officially a part of the 
Union of South Africa, having been annexed to Cape 
Colony in 1884. The harbour is the finest along the 
coast for a thousand miles, and the acumen of the 



188 AFRICA TO-DAY 

British authorities in securing it is entitled to praise. 
The colony, if we may properly call it such, is only 
430 square miles in area, and in 1904 had a population 
of 997, of whom 144 were Europeans. It exists more as 
a fitting-out place for whalers than anything else (hence 
its name), although it does some trade with the people 
of the surrounding German territory. This concludes 
the sketch of Great Britain's western African domin- 
ions, for we are now in touch with the South African 
states, which are to be the subject of another chapter. 
The great German colony, of some three hundred 
and twenty-five thousand square miles in area, is but 
sparsely populated, for in 1903 it was estimated that 
there were but few more than two hundred thousand in- 
habitants, the natives being Bantu-Negroes and Hotten- 
tots. There were some seven thousand Europeans and 
a garrison; most of them were Germans. South West 
Africa is the only one of Germany's African possessions 
that is suited to white colonisation, and therefore it is 
likely to develop along satisfactory lines. There are 
no good harbours, and the only suitable one, Swakop- 
mund, is an artificial port on the north bank of the 
Swakop River, the southern bank belonging to Walfish 
Bay. Just back of the coast-line is a mountain range 
having some peaks of respectable altitude, such as Mt. 
Omatako, nearly nine thousand feet. In the northern 
part of the colony there is some excellent grazing land. 
Some of the rivers are sizeable, but those of importance 
come from beyond German territory. The large game 
has been nearly exhausted, but antelopes are still plenti- 
ful, and rabbits also. The flora presents no aspects at 



WESTERN AFRICA 189 

all strange and is just what might be expected; the ana 
tree {Acacia albida) may be specifically mentioned as 
its seeds are much liked by all domestic animals. There 
is a narrow gauge (one metre) railway from Swakopmund 
to Windhoek (the capital), 237 miles; another from the 
former place to Grootfontein, 400 miles, to develop the 
Otavi. At one place this line reaches an altitude of 
5213 feet above sea-level. Another railway, of the 
standard South African gauge (3 ft. 6 in.), has been 
built from Luderitz to Keetmanshoop, with the expecta- 
tion of connecting with the British systems at Kimberley, 
Orange Free State; and a branch goes from Seeheim 
to Kalkfontein. The history of this colony will give 
particular attention to the revolts of native tribes, in 
1903 to 1907, that caused the Germans much trouble, — 
and of course involved enormous expense in money 
and caused the loss of many precious lives. These 
wars of punishment and suppression were against the 
Bondelzwarts, the Hereros, and the Hottentots. 



CHAPTER XII 

SOUTH AFRICA 

IN this chapter we have to discuss British possessions 
only: the Union of South Africa and Rhodesia. 
The latter for certain internal reasons — as will appear — 
has decided not to join the Union just yet, although 
it is quite safe to say that she will do so erelong. When 
it was first proposed to unite the British South African 
colonies into a Commonwealth the name, the United 
States of South Africa, was suggested by some; but 
this was rejected, and we are of the opinion that this 
rejection was wisely taken. What with the United 
States of America, the United States of Brazil, the 
United States of Colombia, the United States of Mexico, 
and the United States of Venezuela, we now have quite 
enough of these "United States," and, besides, the title 
has come to suggest a union of states in an independent 
republic. The Union of South Africa was duly carried 
into effect on May 31, 19 10; the first General Election 
was held in September, 19 10, and the Union Parlia- 
ment was opened in the first week of November by the 
Duke of Connaught, to whom King George delegated 
the office that he had hoped, before his father's death, 
to perform himself. The Union Parliament held its 
first session and adjourned before the close of the year 
1 9 10, and the course, which the business considered took, 

190 



SOUTH AFRICA 191 

served to show that the working majority secured by 
General Botha at the elections was quite strong enough 
to effect all the purposes of efficient government; but 
at the same time the opposition led by Dr. Jameson 
evinced sufficient force to ensure that check which is 
desirable in every legislative body. 

When the settlers in Rhodesia were called upon to 
express themselves as in favour of or opposed to enter- 
ing the Union, they decided that their province was 
still too immature. It is yet in its childhood, although 
growing in a way that gives promise of a great future 
which will fully justify the prescience of the man Cecil 
Rhodes. The province does not desire incorporation 
with the Union at present, not on account of any dis- 
approval of the plan or of unfriendliness towards the 
movement for which it stands, but because of a modest 
sense of immaturity. She looks forward to enter later, 
when she can be an effective unit and not a dependency; 
and this we are confident is a reasonable and politic 
opinion. 

With this by way of introduction, let us now proceed 
to consider the units which have now coalesced into 
another great British Commonwealth. Cape Colony, 
officially styled " Province of the Cape of Good Hope," 
is at the extreme southern end of the African continent, 
and has been a British province since 1806. Its name, 
of course, comes from the cape, which King John II 
of Portugal declared should be considered a promise of 
Good, and not the " Stormy Point !" (See Chapter I.) 
It was near the Cape of Good Hope that the Hollanders 
made their first settlements in 1652. In 1686 the 



192 AFRICA TO-DAY 

Dutch colony was materially increased in numbers and 
greatly helped, both physically and spiritually, by the 
arrival of a number of French Protestant refugees, who 
felt themselves driven from home by the revocation of 
the Edict of Nantes, which Henry IV had signed on 
April 13, 1598, and to which the Huguenots had pinned 
their faith, believing that they were assured of religious 
liberty, quiet, and prosperity under the protection of a 
law expressly declared to be perpetual and irrevocable. 
But subsequent legislation in South Africa, unfair and 
invidious, caused the Huguenots to lose their identity, 
and before long all knowledge of French disappeared. 

The advent of Europeans had one most disastrous 
effect upon the natives of South Africa: the introduction 
of smallpox worked havoc amongst them; whole tribes 
of Hottentots were destroyed by the scourge between 
1 713 and 1755. The attitude of the Hollanders towards 
the natives was not marked by great consideration in 
many ways; they were overbearing and too frequently 
unjust. On the other hand, however, it must be said 
that the Hollanders themselves received but little con- 
sideration from the Dutch East India Company, "which 
closed the colony against free immigration, kept the 
whole of the trade in its own hands, combined the ad- 
ministrative, legislative, and judicial powers in one body, 
prescribed to the farmers the nature of the crops they 
were to grow, demanded from them a large part of their 
produce, and harassed them with other exactions tend- 
ing to discourage industry and enterprise." The reader 
is recommended to look at the article "South Africa" 
in the eleventh edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 



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Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. 

Street in Hanover, Cape Colony 



SOUTH AFRICA 193 

especially that part of it which treats of the methods 
and results of Dutch colonial government in their 
broadest aspect. We pass on to the time, 18 14, when, 
after various vicissitudes of war, the colony was 
ceded outright to Great Britain. At that time the 
colony extended northward to what was called Bush- 
mansland; it was about one hundred and twenty 
thousand square miles in area and had a population 
of only some sixty thousand, made up of twenty-seven 
thousand whites, seventeen thousand free Hottentots, 
and sixteen thousand slaves. If space permitted, we 
should like to speak of the various Kaffir and Zulu 
wars, because they have had an effect in moulding the 
Union of South Africa but the discussion must be 
omitted. 

When once the barren shore belt is passed, the interior 
of the country is found to be attractive in many ways. 
There are some high mountains in the country; for ex- 
ample, Compass Berg, eighty-five hundred feet. Table 
Mountain, overlooking Cape Town, is so well known, 
both physically and in legend, that it is unnecessary to 
speak of it. Cape Colony is famous for its healthful and 
health-giving climate : healthful in that there is so little 
sickness; health-giving, because those who go there ill 
so quickly recover. Some of the wild animals that 
were plentiful in early days — e.g., quagga, blaauwbok, 
and others — have been exterminated; while the largest 
game — elephants, giraffe, lions, etc. — have been driven 
by hunters and the advance of civilisation beyond the 
borders of the colony. The flora is rich and varied in 
the coast districts, but somewhat sparse in the interior; 



194 AFRICA TO-DAY 

cultivated fields are satisfactorily thrifty. It was the 
Hollanders who invented the name Hottentot* for the 
Quaequae, who, with Bushmen (their kinsmen), were 
the natives when the first Europeans arrived. Farther 
north were various other tribes, the principal ones 
being Kaffirs (Bechuanas and others). The bulk of 
the population, outside of the pure European stock, is 
a most heterogeneous mixture of Dutch, Hottentot, and 
Kaffir blood. In 1865 the first proper census was taken, 
and then the area of the colony was 195,000 square 
miles (this excluded the " Native Territories") and 
the population, 566,158. The 1904 census figures are: 
area, 276,995 square miles; population, 2,409,804. The 
principal towns are on the coast. Cape Town is the 
capital, both of the province and of the Union. 

Agriculture, viticulture, fruit growing, mining, live- 
stock rearing are all important and constantly expand- 
ing industries, the volume of trade rising into many 
hundreds of millions of pounds sterling. There are over 
four thousand miles of railway in the country, the South 
and Central African gauge being three feet six inches. 
These may be divided, for a general consideration, into 
three systems: Western, Midland, and Eastern. The 
first is the southern section of the Cape to Cairo Rail- 
way, from Cape Town to the Belgian Kongo frontier, 
about two thousand miles. The main line has various 
branches, both in the Province of the Cape of Good 
Hope and in the northern provinces; one of the latter 
from Salisbury, Mashonaland (Rhodesia) to Beira (Por- 

* Derived from hot-en-tot; the first and third syllables being an imita- 
tion of native "clicks" in speech, akin to stammering; the Dutch en 
equalling the English and. 



SOUTH AFRICA 195 

tuguese), the last-mentioned place being 2037 miles by 
rail from Cape Town. The second system starts at Port 
Elizabeth, Cape Colony, the main line going north to 
Pretoria, Transvaal, 741 miles, with one branch east via 
Ladysmith to Durban, Natal; another connects the first 
and second systems, and there are other branches and 
independent lines. The third section starts from East 
London and, cutting across the other two, reaches into 
the Orange Free State, etc. There are, besides, a 
number of east and west lines, and many short ones in 
the various southern and eastern parts of the colony. 
In 1 9 10 Cape Colony entered the Union of South Africa 
as an original province. 

Natal is one of the maritime provinces of the Union. 
Its area is 35,371 square miles. The province is divided 
into two districts: Natal proper, 24,910 square miles, and 
Zululand, 10,461 square miles. The former is especially 
noted for the steepness of the earth's surface. The 
rivers plunge down eight thousand feet or more in a 
course of about two hundred miles; they are, of course, 
not navigable. The climate is wonderfully varied, but 
nowhere actually unhealthy. It has been compared, 
quite justly, with that of northern Italy, notwithstand- 
ing that in the lower valleys and along the coast 
there is much humidity. As is to be expected in 
such a country of marked difference in physical 
characteristics, there is an extremely wide range in 
the flora. The fauna is now restricted to the 
smaller animals only; all the larger ones, such as ele- 
phants, giraffes, buffaloes, ostriches, and hosts of others, 
having been exterminated or driven out. The aborigi- 



196 AFRICA TO-DAY 

nal inhabitants were almost annihilated by the Zulus 
about a hundred years ago. The official estimate of 
the population of Natal proper, on December 31, 1908, 
was: Europeans, 91,443; natives (including "mixed and 
others"), 998,264; Asiatics, 116,679; total, 1,206,388. 
The task of suppressing the internecine wars and that 
of subduing, the Zulus were severe and expensive for 
the British. The capital of the province is Pieter- 
maritzburg, the long, awkward name being abbreviated 
by the foreigners to "P. M. B." 

Natal is well equipped as to means of communication. 
From Durban there are steamers via Suez or via Cape 
Town to Europe, calling at many intermediate ports 
as well as lines direct to London. There are, too, 
many coastwise lines. The first railway laid in South 
Africa was that from The Point harbour, to Durban, 
two miles. There is now the standard gauge (3 ft. 6 in.) 
railway from Durban, via Johannesburg, Pretoria, Kim- 
berley, to Delagoa Bay (Lourenco Marques, Portuguese), 
eight hundred and sixty miles, with many branches and 
subsidiary lines. There are, also, from Durban coast- 
lines north and south; the former into the Santa Lucia 
coalfields, the latter to Port Shepstone, with a branch. 
The diversity in soil and climate results in great variety 
of agricultural products. There are, too, many livestock 
and horse-breeding ranches. The output from the latter 
cannot yet be very large, however, for it will be remem- 
bered that during the last Boer war the British army 
officers were compelled to go to all parts of the world, 
including America, to secure needed " remounts." 

Zululand, the " Province of Zulu" as it was officially 




Copyright, Underwood &° Underwood, N. Y. . 

The Town Hall, Durban, Natal 
Kaffir-drawn jinrikisba in foreground 



SOUTH AFRICA 197 

designated from 1898 to 19 10, is now a part of the Natal 
province of the Union of South Africa. It is a region 
of hills and mountain plateaus, with many shallow 
lagoons along the coast. The uplands are very high, 
rising to 4500 feet above sea-level. The area is 10,450 
square miles; the population (in 1904) was about 230,000 
only, including 1693 whites. The flora presents nothing 
sufficiently marked to call for special comment. Of the 
fauna it may be said that the Hon and elephant, with 
a goodly number of the other larger animals, reappear. 
Although there are two hundred and ten miles of sea- 
coast, there is no good harbour. There is fairly safe 
holding-ground at the mouth of the Tugela River, 
except when westerly winds blow; but this is nearly 
a mile off shore. The one railway, Durban-St. Lucia, 
has been already mentioned. Good roads are now 
found everywhere. The Zulus afford to the student 
of history an absorbingly interesting subject, and the 
various wars between them and the British fill some of 
the most thrilling of South Africa's records. 

The native name for the province of Swaziland is 
Pungwane. Its area is only 6536 square miles and the 
population (in 1904) numbered 85,484, of whom 898 
were white. The natives are all Ama-Swazi Bantus 
and are closely allied to the Zulus. The different 
sections of the country are spoken of as the high veld, 
western, average altitude forty-five hundred feet; the 
middle veld, about twenty -five hundred feet; and the 
low veld, eastern, about one thousand feet, and reach- 
ing to the Lebombo Mountains, which are flat-topped 
and do not rise over two thousand feet anywhere. 



198 AFRICA TO-DAY 

The province is well watered. The rivers all empty 
into Delagoa Bay. The flora and fauna call for no 
special remark, since they present no feature that in any 
way distinguishes them from those of the rest of this 
part of the country. Embabaan, the Anglicised form of 
the native M'babane, is the capital and is forty-three 
hundred feet above the sea. The climate is most 
healthy. There is a railway to the town of Lourenco 
Marques, in Portuguese East Africa, which crosses the 
frontier forty-seven miles east of Embabaan; it is the 
eastern link in the direct Johannesburg-Delagoa Bay 
line. There are a number of good roads in sections 
where development calls for them. The soil being 
generally fertile and the natives having a disposition 
thereto, agriculture is of importance and stock-raising 
is a considerable industry. Gold, tin, and coal mining 
are now receiving some profitable attention. To the 
ethnologist there is much that appeals in the history 
of the Ama-Swazi tribes and their enemies, the Bantus 
and Zulus. 

Basutoland, officially "The Territory of Basutoland," 
is an inland state and crown colony of Great Britain. 
(Area, 10,293 square miles; population, 1904, 348,848.) 
The native name is Lesuto, and the country is a part of 
the southeastern ridge of the great South African table- 
land, having a mean elevation of six thousand feet. Its 
climate may easily be imagined. The famous Draken- 
berg range attains its greatest elevation on the Basuto- 
land-Niger frontier, where there are peaks towering up 
ten thousand feet and more. It is a great and beautiful 
country, in its scenery fully deserving the title "The 



SOUTH AFRICA 199 

Switzerland of South Africa," which has been given it; 
and not only physically but industrially is it coming to 
approach Switzerland. One conspicuous characteristic 
— for Africa — is the fact that the four seasons, as we know 
them in the higher latitudes of the north temperate 
zone, are sharply defined. These are, of course, just 
the reverse of ours, if we adhere strictly to our months 
by name; for Basutoland's July is the beginning of mid- 
winter snow and ice, while Christmas is celebrated 
under the broiling sun of midsummer! There are trees, 
but no forests; there are charming heaths, and higher 
up again the alpine flora is very beautiful. Compara- 
tively few wild animals are seen, and none of them are 
very large. 

This province is one of the greatest grain districts of 
South Africa, and if the promise of development is kept, 
it will not be necessary to retain the modifying " South" 
very long. Excellent ponies, descended from some Shet- 
lands that ran wild over half a century ago, are reared 
and lately the strain has been highly improved by the 
introduction of Arab stallions. Communication depends 
upon the highroads, which are in excellent condition; 
none of the rivers are navigable. A short railway from 
Naseru, the capital, connects with the trunk line from 
Bloemfontein to Ladysmith. Rather exceptional educa- 
tional facilities are supplied and availed of; but the 
schools, as yet, are those founded by missionary so- 
cieties, although the Government contributes, without 
sectarian discrimination, towards maintenance. Social 
conditions among the natives are on a much higher 
plane than is customarily found in South Africa. 



200 AFRICA TO-DAY 

Orange Free State was, from 1854 to 1900, an inde- 
pendent republic. From May, 1900, to June, 1910, it 
was known as the Orange River Colony, and since the 
last date it has formed a province of the Union of South 
Africa as the Orange Free State, although why the 
"Free" is retained it is not easy to say. It lies north 
of the Orange River and south of the Vaal. It is a part 
of the great interior tableland and has an elevation of 
some four to five thousand feet. Mont aux Sources, 
eleven thousand feet, and the highest peak in South 
Africa, is partly in this province; there are, besides, a 
number of very respectable mountains entirely within the 
borders. Generally speaking, the province is a great tree- 
less plain, strikingly uneven in its surface. The area is 
50,392 square miles, and the population 229,149, at the 
last census. The climate is not comparable with that of 
Basutoland, although it is very healthy, for there are 
trying, hot winds and occasionally bad dust-storms. 
The flora is just what one would expect to find in such 
high lands when rain is scarce. The tobacco plant 
grows wild. A great change has taken place in the 
fauna during a hundred years. Big game, that was 
plentiful during the early days of the Boers, has dis- 
appeared, and what small game there is does not 
appeal strongly to the sportsman. 

The Bushmen were, probably, the autochthons, as 
in many other parts of South Africa; then came the 
Hottentots, and afterwards the Bantu-Negroes of the 
Bechuana tribes. Representatives of all these are seen, 
and there are, besides, many "mixed." It may be 
mentioned here that there are in various parts of South 



SOUTH AFRICA 201 

Africa graffiti in caves and on rocks which show that 
the Bushmen were at one time in regions where they 
are not now found and where they do not appear to 
have been for a very long time. 

This province has an extensive system of railways; 
they are owned by the state and are all of the standard 
South African gauge (3 ft. 6 in.). One division connects 
the colony with Cape Town by the trunk line, Cape to 
Cairo, etc. The other is the Natal trunk line, northeast 
and southwest. The two systems are interlocked in 
a double way. Agriculture is the most important 
industry; next come sheep and stock raising. '* Under 
the provisions of a Land Settlement Ordinance of 1902 
over 1,500,000 acres of crown land had been, by 1907, 
allotted, and in September, 1909, there were 642 families, 
of whom over 570 were British, settled on that land. 
In 1907 a Land Settlement Board was created to deal 
with the affairs of these settlers. At the end of five 
years the Board was to hand over its duties to the Gov- 
ernment. " After the industries which have been men- 
tioned, comes diamond mining; in 1909 the value of 
the stones dug was considerably over $5,000,000. Coal 
mining has attained importance. Gold and iron deposits 
have been found, but these are not worked to an appre- 
ciable extent. 

Transvaal; literally "Across the Vaal," because this 
inland province lies north of, or beyond from, Cape Colony, 
the Vaal River, and south of the Limpopo. Its boundaries 
have already been given indirectly, save the northern one, 
which joins Rhodesia, and that part of the western line 
which adjoins the Bechuanaland Protectorate. These 



202 AFRICA TO-DAY 

frontiers, with the exception of a little of the south- 
western one, are well-defined natural features. The 
area is 111,196 square miles and the population, on 
April 17, 1904, when the first complete census was 
taken, was 1,269,951. This latter number included 8215 
British soldiers in garrisons, and of that total a little 
over twenty per cent, were European or white; the 
white people being British or Hollanders. Most of 
the British subjects are gathered into the towns, where 
practically all the white foreigners are to be found; 
while the Hollanders, Boers, are mainly farmers and 
stockmen. The natives are of the Bantu-Negro race, 
chiefly from Basuto, Bechuana, Bavenda, and Xosa- 
Zulu tribes — all immigrants. Just who the autochthons 
were will probably never be known, for in the second dec- 
ade of the nineteenth century such havoc was wrought 
among the natives by the Zulu chief Mosilikatze that 
they were practically annihilated; and after that, in 
addition to the immigrants already mentioned, there 
came in from the east and southeast Swazi, Shangaan, 
and people of other tribes. 

The province in the east is mountainous, but in the 
west it is a part of the main tableland of South Central 
Africa. "The true veld, extending east to west one hun- 
dred and twenty miles and north to south one hundred 
miles, consists of rolling grass-covered downs absolutely 
treeless, save where, as at Johannesburg, plantations have 
been made by man, the crests of the rolls being known 
as builts and the hollows as laagtes or pleys. The surface 
is occasionally broken by Kopjes — either table-shaped 
or pointed — rising sometimes one hundred feet above 



SOUTH AFRICA 203 

the general level. Small springs of fresh water are fre- 
quent and there are several shallow lakes or pans — flat- 
bottomed depressions with no outlet. The largest of 
these pans, Lake Chrissie, some five miles long by one 
mile broad, is in the southeastern part of the high 
veld. The water in the pans is usually brackish. The 
middle veld is marked by long, low, stony ridges, known 
as rands, and these rands and the kopjes are often 
covered with scrub, while mimosa trees are found in 
the river valleys." 

The Transvaal has a healthy, invigorating climate; 
that of the high veld being among the finest in the world ; 
for it is unusually dry because of the desiccating influence 
of the Kalahari Desert (Bechuanaland) on the west and 
of the Drakenbergs on the east, which intercept the 
damp air from the Indian Ocean. But the daily range 
of the temperature is sometimes startling; in winter 
the mercury may be at ioo° F. in the shade at noon and 
the succeeding night ice will form ! The mean tempera- 
ture in summer (October to April) is about 73 F., that 
of winter about 53 . The flora is most interesting and 
still appeals to the investigating botanist; but its greatest 
practical value lies in the excellent, short, sweet 
grasses so abundantly supplied and so admirably suited 
to domestic animals. The fauna has been almost 
metamorphosed since the advent of Europeans. The 
indiscriminate slaughter of the larger animals — lion, 
elephant, rhinoceros, giraffe, hippopotamus, crocodile, — 
has nearly exterminated them ; but there are still many 
small wild animals whose habits have undergone change 
since the removal of those that preyed upon them. 



204 AFRICA TO-DAY 

Noxious insects, such as the tsetse fly, ticks (there are 
at least six species), mosquitoes, locusts, and ants, are 
very common. 

The administrative divisions and their measures, the 
government, the school system, industrial enterprises, 
and other topics must be passed with the comment 
that they are what is to be expected in an intelligently 
governed British colony, when the economic and political 
value of that colony is thoroughly appreciated, as is 
the case with the Transvaal. The railway development 
has reached remarkable proportions. There are almost 
innumerable short, private lines built to exploit some 
particular industry; of these no account is taken here. 
The principal (trunk) lines of the standard South African 
gauge all converge at Johannesburg. The following 
table gives the distances from that city to other places 
in South Africa (for projected routes, shortening the 
journey between Europe and Johannesburg, see the 
Geographical Journal, December, 1910). 

INLAND CENTRES SEAPORTS 

Miles Miles 

To Pretoria 46 To Cape Town (via Kimberley) 957 

" Kimberley 310 " " " (via Bloemfontein ) . . . 1013 

" Bloemfontein 263 " Port Elizabeth 714 

" Bulawayo (via Fourteen Streams) 979 " East London 665 

" Salisbury ( " " " ) 1279 " Durban 483 

" Lourengo Marques (via Pretoria) 396 

Other important lines are: east via Pretoria-Delagoa 
Bay railway; from Witbank to Brakpan; Krugersdorp to 
Zeerust; Pretoria to Rustenberg; Pretoria to Pietersburg; 
the "Selati" railway from Komati Poort to Leydsdorp 
and on to the Limpopo River; Belfast to Lydenburg; 
Potchefstroom to Lichtenburg. Telegraph lines are 



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SOUTH AFRICA 205 

extended all over the province and are connected with 
ocean cables at one or the other of several seaports. 
Inland communication is had with British Central 
Africa and Ujiji, on Lake Tanganyika, through Rhodesia. 
This gives access to German East Africa and its principal 
port of entry, Dar es-Salaam. 

The postal service is well organised and in some 
parts of the Pietersburg district zebras are hitched 
into mailcarts for rural delivery. The mineral re- 
sources of the province would demand several long 
chapters for themselves if they were discussed 
thoroughly. The famous "Rand Reefs," along the 
Witwatersrand, are known in every stock exchange of 
the world. Diamonds, coal and other minerals, iron 
and copper ores — all these are important. Agriculture 
yields precedence to mining, although the development 
in farming and stock-raising is rapidly pushing these 
industries to the front. Fruit growing is a thriving 
occupation, for the climate. and soil in many places are 
admirably suited for this purpose. The crown lands, 
about twenty-one million acres in area, are being wisely 
administered and attractive inducements are held out 
to settlers. The history of the colony presents an 
absorbingly interesting combination of romance, matter 
of fact, struggle, and war, but it fills volumes and 
cannot even be condensed into part of a chapter; and 
since it cannot be given here, it is unfair to criticise 
either Boer or British acts. 

Griqualand East and Griqualand West are naturally 
parts of Bechuanaland. The former is known also as 
Kaffraria. Neither one is a separate political division > 



206 AFRICA TO-DAY 

and they are mentioned here by name simply because 
of the importance of the diamond mines and because 
Kimberley, the chief town of Griqualand West, is of 
considerable note; it is the headquarters for the 
diamond miners and dealers. Diamonds were first 
discovered in this district in 1867, and by the end of 
1905 the quantity taken out amounted to thirteen and 
one-half tons in weight, and the value was nearly five 
hundred million dollars. To speak of tons of diamonds, 
each ton being twenty-two hundred and forty pounds 
avoirdupois, as if they were so much pig-iron, must 
strike the reader as commercialising the jewel in an 
extraordinary way. The history of Griqualand blends 
together accounts of Bushmen, Hottentots, Bastaards 
(the name, even in its Dutch form, is shamefully sug- 
gestive; they were the offspring of Hollander fathers 
by Hottentot mothers, but were not cared for by their 
fathers), and Europeans. 

The British Protectorate of Nyasaland is a small 
district, still administered by a governor, appointed 
from London, with the assistance of an executive and 
legislative council. It will eventually become a part of 
the Union of South Africa, we may reasonably assume, 
but probably not until after Rhodesia, with which it 
is geographically allied, joins that Union. Nyasaland 
includes all the west coast of Lake Nyasa south of 
the Songwe River, where it marches with German 
East Africa; the southern end of the lake and up the 
coast of the lake to 11 \ ° south latitude where the 
British and German possessions join; in the south it is 
surrounded by Portuguese territory; westward it projects 



SOUTH AFRICA 207 

into Rhodesia. It takes in the greater part of the Shire 
river basin and the Shire Highlands. The area is about 
forty thousand nine hundred and eighty square miles 
and the population is estimated at very nearly one mil- 
lion. Light draft steamboats can travel on the Zambesi 
River from its mouth, at Chinde, to Port Herald on the 
Shire River; but during low water they cannot always 
go quite so far. There is a railway from Port Herald 
to Blantyre, the commercial metropolis of the Shire 
Highlands. The Cape to Cairo Railway, which crossed 
the Zambesi in 1905, and the Kafukwe in 1906, reached 
Broken Hill mines in 1907, and was continued to the Bel- 
gian Kongo frontier in 1909. There is a connecting line 
to Blantyre, three thousand feet above the sea. The place 
is a monument to Livingstone, for the name was taken 
from the great missionary explorer's birthplace, and the 
town was founded by the Church of Scotland Mission. 
The history of the whole province is interesting because 
of the connection with Livingstone's name, for on the 
shore of Lake Nyasa he planted a mission station soon 
after he had reached the lake, from the south, in 1859. 
Rhodesia, the name being a monument to another 
one man — of vastly different metal than that other one 
man whose name is associated with the adjoining Bel- 
gian Kongo — who, backed up by the British Gov- 
ernment, was its founder, Cecil Rhodes. It is a great 
interior possession of Great Britain in the southern part 
of Central Africa and the northern part of South Africa. 
In extent it measures some four hundred and fifty thou- 
sand square miles, or more than France, Germany, Hol- 
land, and Belgium combined. That it was in the mind 



208 AFRICA TO-DAY 

of the founder of this great state to have it preserve 
absolute independence and become a separate nation is 
possibly too much to say; certainly we cannot now 
know. The Zambesi River naturally divides the colony 
into two unequal parts, the northern of which is again 
subdivided into North West Rhodesia (Barotseland) and 
North East Rhodesia. In its northern regions Rhodesia 
is a part of the Kongo basin ; the rest is practically all in 
the Zambesi basin, although in the south and southeast it 
is drained by tributaries of the Limpopo River. 

The entire province is a part of the high tableland 
of Central Africa. The colony is rich in its fauna, 
both the great beasts and the small animals. For the 
entomologist there are yet attractive possibilities of 
catching unidentified specimens of beetles, butterflies, 
and moths; and for the practical entomologist there is 
work to be done in exterminating pestiferous ants that 
are working havoc. It may be, too, that the ornitholo- 
gist who makes a lengthy stay will be rewarded by the 
discovery of something new. The flora ranges from the 
tropical through the subtropical (constituting the greater 
part) to that of the semi- temper ate. It is a little strange 
that all the forest trees yield timber that is either too 
hard or too soft for practical use ; therefore house lumber 
has as yet to be imported. The Rhodesian teak, a tree 
that the natives call Ikusi, yields wood that is fifty per 
cent harder than the teak with which we are familiar. 
There are, too, a few indigenous fruit trees, the best of 
which is the fig, in many varieties. The blossoming of 
the flowering plants on the veld is a pretty phenomenon; 
these do not wait for the rains, after the four to seven 



SOUTH AFRICA 209 

months of dry weather, but being mostly bulbous plants 
whose tubers have stored up a reserve of moisture, they 
send out their blooms in anticipation, as it were, of the 
rains that are soon to come, and the store is sufficient 
to keep them fresh until the rains actually arrive, when 
they send out other flowers. 

Southern Rhodesia already has a very large percentage 
of Europeans in its population, and the concentration of 
effort in this direction is likely to increase the ratio 
of whites to black. The natives belong to the Bantu- 
Negro stock. Some have developed a limited capacity 
for advancing, but practically all are yet ruled by super- 
stition and their implicit belief in spirits — of all kinds, 
beneficent very few, maleficent innumerable. Their 
feasts are frequent, misfortune or good luck being equally 
made the occasion for eating, drinking, and dancing. 
Salisbury is the capital of Southern Rhodesia; it stands 
forty-eight hundred and eighty feet above the sea. We 
are familiar with the names of other Rhodesian towns: 
Bulawayo, near which, at World's View in the Maloppo, 
is Rhodes' burial place, Umtali, Victoria, Melsetter, and 
many others. 

The railways are already in an advanced state for a 
colony hardly more than a quarter of a century old; for 
with the trunk line, the Cape to Cairo, and its ramifica- 
tions, branches, and connections, it is possible to reach 
almost every important centre. The highroads built 
and maintained by the Government, over four thousand 
miles in length, may well receive the admiration of Ameri- 
cans, and if they could be imitated in this country it would 
greatly conduce to our comfort. As yet the adminis- 



2IO AFRICA TO-DAY 

tration of Rhodesia is in the hands of the British South 
African Company, which appoints an administrator. 
There is a legislative council, a majority of whom are 
elected by the registered voters. There is a High 
Court of Justice, with two judges who have civil and 
criminal jurisdiction; besides these there are sundry 
magistrates' courts throughout the province. Of 
Rhodesia's history and archaeology there is so much to 
be said, and it is so very interesting, that we must refer 
our readers to the bibliography for special works dealing 
with these subjects at the length desired. 

Barotseland. Most of this South Central African coun- 
try now forms a part of Rhodesia. The people are the 
most important in this section of the world and are an in- 
teresting ethnological study. They were once conquered 
by Basutos from the south, but eventually reasserted 
their supremacy. The territory defined as Barotseland 
is of vast area, extending from the Kwito River (about 
longitude 20 E.) on the west to the Kafue (Kafukwe) 
River (about 28°E.), and from the Kongo-Zambesi water- 
shed in the north to the Linyante district of the Kwando 
River basin and the Zambesi on the south. The area of 
that part of Barotseland which is under British protection 
is something like one hundred and eighty thousand 
square miles. There is excellent pasturage, the cattle 
having a famous reputation for fatness. The climate 
is generally healthy, but the valleys should be avoided 
by white settlers. It is well for the reader who is in- 
terested in such topics to give some attention to the 
accounts — favourable as well as adverse — of how Brit- 
ish suzerainty came to be established in Barotseland. 




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SOUTH AFRICA 211 

There are two sections of Rhodesia which deserve a 
few words of comment: Mashonaland and Matabeleland. 
The inhabitants of the former are Bantu-Negroes, whose 
name comes from the contemptuous Amashuina, applied 
to them by the Matabeles (Zulus) because they would 
lurk in caves among the rocky hills to escape from 
righting with the intruders. Although many of them 
submitted to the Matabeles they preserved a certain 
national unity. They are skilful potters and weavers of 
cloth from bark, as well as industrious farmers. They 
excelled in smelting and forging iron and in carving wood. 
They are also quite musical, and make a rude sort of 
" piano" with iron keys. They also worked in the gold 
diggings and could even extract gold from quartz. 
The Matabeles got their name from a word which 
means " vanishing" or ''hidden" because of the clever 
way they had of protecting themselves from their 
adversaries' primitive missiles by crouching behind 
immense shields covered with thick oxhide. They are 
a people of Zulu origin, adept in the use of the assegai, 
who were driven from the Transvaal by the Boers in 
1837; they crossed the Limpopo River with a host re- 
cruited from every one of the numerous tribes they 
had conquered, led by the notorious chief Mosilikatze. 
In the new territory the mere name of that chief was 
sufficient to inspire dread, and they conquered and 
absorbed the Mashona tribes, establishing a military 
despotism. Their sole occupation was war conducted 
with an extreme of rigour, and it was not an easy task 
for the British to suppress this tendency. But since 
the conquest of Matabeleland, in 1893, they have ceased 



212 AFRICA TO-DAY 

to be predatory warriors and are now herdsmen and 
agriculturalists. 

A few particulars of Rhodesia's railway equipment 
will be found interesting. The main line is the continua- 
tion of the Cape to Cairo Railway from Cape Town 
through Kimberley and Mafeking. From the latter 
place the general direction is northeasterly to Bulawayo ; 
thence northwesterly to the Zambesi River, which is 
crossed below Victoria Falls. The rather difficult task 
of throwing a bridge across the stream was completed 
in 1905. Then the railway continues, in a northeasterly 
direction, ninety- two miles to Kalomo. Barotseland 
is then entered, and the line goes forward through 
Rhodesia to the Katanga district of Belgian Kongo. The 
section from Kalomo to Broken Hill, two hundred and 
sixty-one miles, was completed in 1907, and the Belgian 
Kongo frontier was reached in 1909. This main line 
makes the southern division of the joint railway and 
steamboat service (the latter for a short distance on the 
Nile, temporarily, no doubt), by which passengers will 
very soon be able to go from Alexandria to Cape Town, 
the entire length of the continent. As is suggested in 
a later chapter, the extension of the line northward from 
the Belgian Kongo is contemplated along the east shore 
of Lake Tanganyika. Physical conditions would seem 
almost to necessitate this, although other considerations 
may lead to a change. From Bulawayo a line goes north- 
east to Gwelo, Salisbury, and on to Beira (Portuguese) ; 
from the same junction point a line one hundred and 
twenty miles southeast to West Nicholson mine. A 
line runs from Gwelo forty miles to Yankee Doodle and 



SOUTH AFRICA 213 

a two-foot-gauge line goes fifty miles to Lomagundi. 
Altogether there are about four thousand miles in or 
immediately subsidiary to the province. 

It is interesting to read of the Duke of Connaught's 
almost " Royal Progress" through the South Africa 
Union and Rhodesia in 1910, and of his declaration that 
he returned to England "a confirmed Rhodesian," as 
he expressed himself. We may have to make some 
allowances for the careful sweeping and garnishing 
preparatory to this visit of the King's delegate; but 
figures do not always lie and Britons have an incisive 
way of looking into estimates of income and expenditure, 
side by side in their Budgets, which we should do well 
to imitate. Therefore when His Royal Highness stated 
that the estimated expenditures for the Union of South 
Africa for the fiscal year ending March 30, 191 2, "are 
£16,165,958, a decrease of £650,281 proportionately as 
compared with the year 1910-1911," we may accept the 
figures, and they speak loudly for the economics of the 
Union. So far as Rhodesia itself is concerned, it is the 
southern part of the province which, naturally, shows the 
greatest advance; but the population, as a whole, has in- 
creased more than two hundred thousand in eight years. 
Educational standards have been raised and provision 
made not only to care for children of European parents, but 
natives as well. In the statement of accounts submitted 
by the Board of the South African Company, responsible 
for the administration of Rhodesia, were two items, — 
Rhodesia Defence Expenditure, £2,587,410, and General 
Expenditure, £4,748,525, which represent a part of what 
may be called the purchase money expended in obtaining 



214 AFRICA TO-DAY 

Rhodesia and keeping it. Commenting upon this, the 
Duke is reported to have said: "They, as well as other 
smaller items, are entered in the balance sheet in order 
to explain what has become of sums appearing on the 
other side of the account. They no doubt include a 
certain proportion of money unwisely expended, but 
omelettes are not made without breaking eggs and addi- 
tions are not made to an Empire without cost. If we 
consider what the territory now known as Rhodesia was 
when Cecil Rhodes and his associates obtained possession 
of it and compare its condition then and now, few people 
will be found to deny that very great progress has been 
made, in spite of difficulties and disasters of a formidable 
character." 

In January, 191 1, the earnings of the South African 
railways showed, for the seven months that the Union 
had been an accomplished fact, a sum exceeding by 
£1,000,000 the figures for the corresponding period of the 
previous year. In February a notice was given in the 
Union (Parliament) Assembly of a motion for the segre- 
gation of natives within reserves that would be admin- 
istered through native councils. There is before the 
authorities a very grave problem in dealing with native 
labourers, and it is something which must be handled 
with the greatest caution and consideration. The influx 
of settlers, mainly from England, undoubtedly tends to 
make the future of all parts of the Union seem very 
bright; but the coming of these strangers has an influ- 
ence upon the natives that is not always for good. Those 
who are willing to work evince a perfectly natural objec- 
tion to the giving precedence to the newly arrived whites. 



SOUTH AFRICA 215 

But that is not the gravest aspect of the case. The 
European immigrant is encouraged to bring with him 
his wife and children, and when he takes up his home- 
stead the family is installed as quickly as a dwelling can 
be built for them. The necessary isolation of these 
farms too frequently leaves the wife unprotected, and 
there have been a number of disquieting assaults made 
upon these lonely white women. Stringent repressive 
measures have been advocated and severe punishments 
suggested, in addition to the objectionable segregation 
already alluded to; but the local statesmen and publicists 
are reluctant to have recourse to harsh means, and even 
many of the Britons decline to favour such action. The 
militarist, and there are such in appreciable numbers 
in South Africa, would rely upon a standing army and 
its auxiliaries; and he points to the fact that but for 
the Boers' lack of trained officers and military discipline 
the history of the country would be written very dif- 
ferently, and hence he calls for a division of the country 
into districts, with trustworthy officers — British, of 
course — to train the youths, but the permanent officers 
may, perhaps, be South African born, and to this he adds 
the statement that the mixture of races supports his con- 
tention. However, acute militarism has not yet asserted 
itself in South Africa and it is not likely to do so, while 
the suggestion that the visit of the Japanese cruiser 
Ikoma showed that other powers were coming into the 
world who might dream of invading South Africa has 
been openly and properly laughed to scorn. 

But the language question, although not a serious 
menace, is one that is sure to give trouble. It was wise 



2l6 AFRICA TO-DAY 

forethought which led the framers of the Constitution 
to provide that English and Dutch should be equal; 
but it is hardly practicable at all times. English is the 
most useful — as to that there can be no question — and 
the Boers themselves recognise this; yet they can hardly 
be blamed for wishing (we speak of parents who have had 
no opportunity to acquire a command of English and 
who feel themselves to be too old to learn) to talk freely 
with their children; nor should we be surprised to know 
that pure Dutch is rather a scarce article. The Taal 
is a patois much used by the Hollanders, and this cannot 
be recognised by School Boards; so it comes about that 
some of the older Hollanders are not satisfied to have 
good Dutch taught, the British settlers almost to a 
man object to it vehemently, and the language question 
is one of the awkward nuts for the administration to 
crack. The leaders of both races appeal for co-operation 
and undoubtedly the possible — yes, easy — middle 
course will be determined and followed. The Union 
of South Africa has already acquired momentum that is 
irresistible and its future is bright. Its policy is liberal 
and all strangers are made welcome; most cordially 
the sound, strong, energetic young man. 

It has been declared that South America is the ideal 
place for the young citizen of the United States to go 
to if he feels that he must seek his fortune away 
from home; but it seems to us that, all things con- 
sidered, it is South Africa that is to be recommended 
for such ambition. Soil, climate, social conditions, 
established and permanent government, schools, all 
things are there in a more attractive form than any of 



SOUTH AFRICA 217 

the South American States offer. If proof of liberality 
towards strangers is asked, it is found in the Govern- 
ment's attitude with respect to Asiatics. The following 
concessions have been made to East Indians: first, 
Asiatics now in South Africa who had not applied to be 
registered in consequence of the passive resistance 
movement were permitted to make application within 
six months; second, thirty Asiatics then in India, who 
were deported under the Acts of 1907-08, or who left 
in consequence of the passive resistance movement 
and who would otherwise be entitled to register, might 
return and apply within six months; third, six edu- 
cated Indians will be admitted annually free from 
registration. For the year 191 1 ten Indians then in the 
Transvaal were permitted to remain under temporary 
permits as special cases, pending final legislation; fourth, 
well-educated and well-known Asiatics are to be ex- 
empted from identification by thumb-prints when 
making application. 



CHAPTER XIII 
THE BLACKS IN AFRICA 

WE do not have to follow the Negro race from 
Senegal, in the extreme west of Africa, to its 
furthermost eastern bounds in the Fiji Islands of the 
Pacific Ocean, through Northern Africa, Southern Asia, 
and the Malaysian Islands. Nor do we purpose making 
this chapter an anthropological study of the Negro race. 
The Negro tribes of whom we mean to speak may be 
said to be scattered over Africa from a line roughly 
drawn south of the great deserts, Sahara and Libya, 
down to a line which may be traced "from the Gulf of 
Biafra with a southeasterly trend across the equator 
to the mouth of the Tana"; or, defined by terms of lati- 
tude, from about 14 north to 3 south. Within these 
limits are found most of the true negroes. There may 
be excursions outside of the boundaries, for we are pretty 
sure to mention the Bantu-Negroids who are south of 
this band; while the relations between the yellowish- 
brown Bushmen and Hottentots and the Negro, admit- 
tedly uncertain, must be considered, as well as the 
mixtures of negro blood with Berbers, people of Hamitic 
stock, and Arabs found to the north, almost exclusively, 
of the true negro zone. 

It is the consensus of opinion among anthropologists 
that the mental development of the Negro is of a lower 

218 



THE BLACKS IN AFRICA 219 

standard than that of the Caucasian, most markedly 
in adults. The negro child is quick to learn, the grown 
negro is very slow at it; yet even in the fully grown 
negro there are certain traits, which we usually attribute 
with special acuteness to animals, that are surprising. 
Their senses of sight and hearing are certainly keener 
than are those of the whites ; their instincts for direction 
and locality are not infrequently as precise as those of a 
homing pigeon or the most intelligent wild animal. In 
these attributes the negro is remarkably like the North 
American Indian. 

There are several names used to designate the people 
whose physical characteristics — without too much 
effort at scientific precision — are dark skin, closely 
curling, coarse hair (this last word is employed quite 
loosely), broad noses with low arch, thick and protrud- 
ing lips, and large, clumsy feet. " Negritos," literally 
little negroes, is one of these names, and it was given by 
the Spaniards to those people who were, they assumed, 
the aborigines of the Philippine Islands, although this 
is probably rather doubtful ethnology. The term is 
now employed to designate one of the great groups of 
the East Indies and elsewhere, and by some writers is 
applied to certain of the African tribes who are, those 
writers think, akin. M. de Quatrefages, the eminent 
French ethnologist, made a suggestion that seems 
reasonable. It is that an original stem, undetermined as 
to origin but assumed to have been in southwestern 
Asia, sent out two branches, one of which went eastward 
into Indo-Oceanica, the other westward and eventually 
reached equatorial Africa. Generally accepted by eth- 



220 AFRICA TO-DAY 

nologists and sociologists, this theory would seem to 
place the negrito race closest to the primitive form 
of human beings, and we must admit that the mental 
and physical characteristics of the negro seem to justify 
this conclusion; assuming, as we may properly do, 
that negro and negrito simply differentiate the two 
sections of one and the same division of mankind. But 
still there is no satisfactory theor/ advanced as to the 
link connecting that primitive form with the higher ones, 
and the discussion takes us too far into the field of 
speculative anthropology. 

Restricting ourselves to the word Negro and limiting 
our horizon to Africa, we still find considerable, indeed 
tremendous, differences between the various groups 
which, in that continent, make up the great negro race. 
A glance at the plate given in the last edition of the 
New International Encyclopaedia will at once satisfy 
the investigator that the negro of the east coast of 
Africa is the superior to his kinsman of the west coast, 
and that both are higher in the scale of human develop- 
ment and mental attainment than are the negroes of the 
interior of the continent. The colour of these people 
ranges from a light chocolate through deepening shades 
of brown to nearly black. We must note, however, 
that the negro colour does not depend upon the influence 
of geographical position, exposure to the sun, relative 
degree of heat, or purity of blood. In Central Africa 
there are to be found, side by side, the greatest diver- 
sity in colour; and even in the one family, when 
there is no reason to charge infidelity to the mother, 
there are sometimes inexplicable variants. The negro 



THE BLACKS IN AFRICA 221 

hair (?) has been shown by several ethnologists and 
microscopists, conclusively by P. A. Brown,* to be flat 
in cross section, not round; without central duct; to 
leave the skin at a right angle to the surface; it is spirally 
twisted or curled ; it gets its colouring in a different way 
from that of true hair, and it will mat together; that is, 
it will felt as wool does, which true hair cannot be made 
to do — in fact that this growth upon the negro is alto- 
gether unlike true hair and is like true wool. These 
capillary characteristics are found equally in all divisions 
of the race, Negroes, Negritos, and Negroids; but in 
the last they change with the degree of infusion of other 
blood. Other characteristics to which attention must 
be given are the length of the fore-arm and of the leg, 
the small calf of the leg and projecting heel, and the 
tendency to projecting jaws (prognathism). 

If we accept the statement which has been made by 
many competent, thoroughly honest 4 , and sympathetic 
observers, that the negro is mentally inferior to the 
white man mainly because the premature closing of the 
cranial sutures and lateral pressure of the frontal bone 
arrest the growth of the brain-pan in later adolescence 
or early maturity, yet it is not fair to assume too much 
from the seeming inferiority. When a reasonable 
opportunity is given under competent direction in the 
matter of education, we cannot truthfully say that the 
negro is unable to study and to assimilate knowledge 
in a degree measurably comparable with the attainments 
of the white pupil or student. But while cheerfully 
making mental note of the brilliant exceptions we must 

*"The Classification of Mankind." 



222 AFRICA TO-DAY 

say that this receptivity shows a tendency to check as 
the young grow into manhood, and one has but to read 
the reports of any Christian missionary society working 
in Africa to be convinced that the relapse is the rule. 
Of this, even in our own country, there is such constant 
danger as to make it a rule; while in Africa there are 
few exceptions. 

Although the negro (we are now thinking of him as 
raised above the savage whose delights were war, 
slaughter, capture, and destruction) is first of all an 
agriculturalist, then a hunter and a herdsman, yet he 
is capable of very satisfactory development as a crafts- 
man, and with proper training he will develop skill in 
working with metals and as a carpenter; the metal 
working which explorers found was never to be con- 
sidered seriously as the effort of artisans. "The 
bronze castings by the cite -perdue process,* and the 
cups and horns of ivory elaborately carved, which were 
produced by the natives of Guinea after their intercourse 
with the Portuguese of the sixteenth century, bear ample 
witness to this. But the rapid decline and practical 
evanescence of both industries, when that intercourse 
was interrupted, shows that the native craftsman was 
raised for the moment above his normal level by direct 
foreign inspiration and was unable to sustain the high 
quality of his work when the inspiration failed." f The 
various allusions in the preceding chapters of this book 

* A method of casting bronze by making a model in wax and inclos- 
ing it in plaster, melting the wax out of the plaster, and then using the 
latter as a mould for the bronze. — Cent. Diet. 

t Thomas Athol Joyce, Assistant in the Department of Ethnography, 
British Museum. 



THE BLACKS IN AFRICA 223 

to the skill displayed by negroes, negroids rather, for 
the cases cited have generally been found among peoples 
of mixed blood, in no way stultify this quotation, because 
the work of making arms, offensive and defensive, in 
handling iron, etc., has all been of an inferior character. 
We must be extremely careful if we venture to discuss 
degrees or forms of culture among the Central African 
negroes, because environment has always been such an 
important determining factor; and the admitted ten- 
dency of the natives to wander, whether as a truly 
pastoral people, primarily for the benefit of their herds 
or flocks; as nomadic hunters, following the game which 
their own attacks might drive from place to place; or 
simply as waifs and strays, for change or because of some 
misfortune-bringing "voodos" — anyoneof these or many 
other causes would tend to produce appalling confusion 
in habits and customs, and these would in turn lead 
all but the most careful and precise observer to conclu- 
sions which ethnological facts will not support. Social 
conditions have always been and are now primitive 
among the negroes in Africa, and even in our own land 
it cannot be denied that when left to their own devices 
the negroes are lamentably prone to evince a tendency 
towards looseness in such matters. In African negro 
society the basis has been found to be the village com- 
munity rather than the family, and even when there 
has been such a thing as a negro kingdom, such as, 
for example, Dahomey, the tendency towards imperial 
or royal brutality has been painfully marked. Among 
the Bantu-Negroids — the name itself suggests the like- 
lihood of there having been an infusion of other than 



224 AFRICA TO-DAY 

the pure negro blood — the history of the states of 
Lunda and Cazembe, as we know of it, does not completely 
demolish the theory which has just been advanced. 
Lunda was an empire of no mean proportions, if its 
culture was not high; the people were Bantus, and at 
one time their domains stretched from the Kuango River 
to the Lualaba. The territory is now divided between 
Angola (Portuguese) and the Belgian Kongo. Cazembe 
took its name from its ruler. It is now a part of the 
Union of South Africa. It is north of Lake Bangweolo 
and is rather outside of the equatorial zone wherein are 
the true negroes we are discussing. 

Polygyny is the normal instinct with the negro, 
although in this he is not at all peculiar, and in Africa 
this state of affairs is almost essential to the maintenance 
of the population. Women are so much in excess of 
men numerically, owing to accidents of the chase, private 
brawls, and communal wars, that if the effort of sincere 
missionaries to induce the natives to give up their plu- 
rality of wives were successful, the result would be a 
decrease of population that would rapidly verge upon 
extinction. Monogyny, by the way, is rarely demanded 
by the women themselves, mainly on the principle that 
many hands make light work. Yet women are reckoned 
of some account, it would seem, for among the negroes 
descent in the female line is more common than is the 
patriarchal system. The African secret societies are a 
most potent influence for good or evil, as the case may 
be ; of tener the latter, probably. And so powerful is this 
system that it is usually quite impossible for a man to 
keep out of a society — the pressure brought to bear is 



THE BLACKS IN AFRICA 225 

quite as strong and as irresistible as is that of a labour 
union with us; and always allegiance to his society is 
more dominating upon a man's acts than are family ties. 

Cannibalism was popular with the true negro simply as 
a matter of taste. He ate human flesh whenever he 
could get it because he liked it, not for any religious or 
sentimental reason. Good luck had nothing to do with 
the performance and rarely was it a case of necessity, 
because usually it would have been much easier to kill 
wild game or butcher a domestic animal than to catch 
an enemy, with the possibility always of having the 
tables turned and himself put into the pot to satisfy 
the appetite of his enemy! Indeed, it has been estab- 
lished as a fact that the negroes who were, and it may 
be proper to say are, most addicted to this horrible 
practice of cannibalism are the very ones who inhabit 
districts where game is most plentiful. 

Among the true African negroes there is no evidence 
of a Stone Age, either neolithic or palaeolithic. So far 
as has been observed, when stones were used at all they 
were simply handy pebbles or small waterworn boulders 
employed as rough hammers for the moment, perhaps 
to crush ore or to shape metal, without being preserved 
as permanent implements. The people display traces 
of some aptitude as metal workers, but up to a very low 
stage only, and implements and weapons — of war or 
chase — even when made of stone, evince no sign of 
shaping. In other industries, such as pottery making 
and weaving, the native attainments were nothing to 
attract attention. With the true negroes it is doubtful 
if much time was given to weaving; when they conceived 



226 AFRICA TO-DAY 

the idea that garments of some kind were essential or 
desirable, it is pretty certain that these people took the 
handiest leaves for the purpose. The sentiment which 
led the savage to use raiment is not only outside of our 
province, but its consideration involves esoteric knowl- 
edge which had better not be displayed here. Among 
the Bantus palm cloth was woven with some skill, but 
these people, as has been said, do not properly belong 
in the class we are discussing. We cannot, of course, 
recognise cotton weaving as an African native industry. 
Pottery certainly was known to all negroes, but only in 
its lowest stages of development. They did not make 
use of the potter's wheel, of glazing and firing they had 
but the most rudimentary knowledge, if any at all, 
and naturally the product had less endurance than is 
ordinarily expected. 

The religion of the negroes is a very complex subject 
which hardly seems apposite here, since it demands too 
much space and because it has received such careful 
attention from specialists who have discussed it from 
every conceivable viewpoint. Spencer's "The Principles 
of Sociology" gives about the most convenient synopsis. 
Broadly speaking, the negro is naturally a spiritist and 
almost invariably strongly controlled by his fetish. He 
may, it is true, make his own fetish out of any material 
at hand or raise some small object to that dignity; but 
once made and installed, whether a shell, a bone, a scrap 
of cloth, a bit of wood shaped by nature or by hand, it 
is reckoned all-powerful, offensively and defensively, 
until something happens to discredit its influence; 
then it is calmly rejected or violently deposed with vile 



THE BLACKS IN AFRICA 227 

contumely and another is picked up or made! The 
placating of evil spirits, who are in the majority as a rule, 
not only in Africa but all the world over, and the 
gratifying and flattering of good spirits is the whole of 
the negro's ritual. The witch doctor, magician, medi- 
cine-man is all-powerful, unless he makes an egregious 
mistake, when he is deposed incontinently, if he is not 
murdered outright and eaten. 

Before considering the present status of the African 
Blacks or venturing, most hesitatingly, to speak of their 
future, let us stop for a moment to think of a fact which 
may be thought interesting. Even if the negro is lower 
in the scale of mental endowment, and in the capacity 
which that statement suggests, than is the white man, 
the Creator (Nature, if the word is preferred) seems to 
have adapted him to his environment in precisely the 
same admirable way that He has displayed when putting 
His hand to so many others of His works — shall we not 
say all of His works ? The skin of the negro is so con- 
structed that the pores are, from our point of view, 
abnormally large, permitting of a flow of perspiration 
which seems to us to be excessive, but which really 
enables the negro to thrive in just such an intensely hot 
climate as is found in equatorial Africa; and there are 
other selected characteristics of the skin which work 
together with that just mentioned. This is but one of 
the apparent adaptations to environment which Nature 
has provided in the case of the negro to fit him to live 
and actually to be comfortable in that trying region. 
Immunity from disorders which have proved so fatal to 
the intruding white man is another. Whether this came 



228 AFRICA TO-DAY 

after long acclimatisation or as a natural endowment we 
can hardly know. The same thing will, of course, be 
said of every other trait that differentiates the negro 
from the white man and contributes towards his fitness 
for his native home. But whether all of these are 
called adaptations through natural selection or special 
providences, the result was that the Arabs, or whoever 
were the first pioneers of a different culture and earliest 
intruders upon the black man's equatorial preserves, 
found him established there, if not in entire peace, at 
least with a measure of comfort which gave him pro- 
prietary rights; and it has seemed to many students of 
sociology that there in Africa was the place intended by 
a beneficent Creator to be the permanent abiding-place 
of the Negro ; that there he might be dominant. 

Yet the march of civilisation, if it has not actually 
displaced the blacks by whites, has so transformed the 
conditions under which they formerly lived that there is 
little left of the old life; and it is a lamentable fact that 
the present status of the natives is, all things considered, 
worse than was the former. It is an unfortunate con- 
comitant of European civilisation that its first impress 
has, almost without an exception, been disastrous to 
people of a lower degree of culture than the European 
standards (e.g., Africa, America, Australia) or essen- 
tially different from them in kind even when there was 
a reasonable comparison in degree (e.g., India, China, 
Japan). If we look at any part of the world to which 
the adventurous European explorers and navigators went 
in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries we 
must admit, if we are honest, that the first touch of 



THE BLACKS IN AFRICA 229 

that civilisation was blighting. For every sincere bearer 
of the banner of the Prince of Peace there were a hundred 
reckless buccaneers, without one thought for the physical 
or spiritual welfare of the "savage heathen" whom they 
met; whose sole object was to get wealth, the means 
being unimportant; whose fierce lust held no woman in 
respect, and whose determination to seize slaves was 
stopped by nothing. It was so in the case of Africa. 
Down both coasts the European civilisation marched, 
one missionary disposed to recognise the brotherhood of 
man and a hundred freebooters insistent that to the vic- 
tors belonged the spoils, and they took them in any way 
they could and in every shape they found them, — gold, 
ivory, slaves, whatever there was that could be converted 
into money. Not always was the so-called missionary 
the epitome of Christian kindness; the cross and the 
sword were too often borne by the same person; and it is 
not surprising that erelong the sight of a foreign ship was 
enough to throw the helpless natives into a panic, no 
matter how bravely waved the banner of the Church. 
The compensation for articles purchased, when it was 
made at all, may have satisfied the childishly ignorant 
native, pleased with a toy. It was, no doubt, high 
finance in those days to get an elephant's tusk worth 
two hundred pounds sterling for a string of beads that 
cost sixpence, but it never was honest; and when the 
paucity of that for which articles of real value had been 
exchanged came to be known to the Africans, the effect 
was bad. This sort of barter was contemptible, but there 
were worse influences exerted by the civilised Europeans. 
We have no reason to believe that these blacks of Equa- 



230 AFRICA TO-DAY 

torial Africa were all and always strictly abstemious in 
the matter of intoxicants. Just how they first learnt to 
get alcohol in a potable form is not of moment here; 
but there are few places on this earth where the palm 
tree grows that the people were not making palm 
wine long before the day of their discovery by Euro- 
peans. As it was made by them it was one of the 
least injurious forms that alcoholic beverages assume. 
Had the drinking habit been permitted to stop there, 
all would have been reasonably well; but the newcomers 
taught the natives, only too willing to learn, that there 
were other alcoholic stimulants more potent than their 
own almost innocuous palm wine. Nearly every book 
about Africa we pick up, whether written by mission- 
ary or layman, contains stories of natives' demand for 
"whiskey." This was the first lesson, and from its influ- 
ence Africa has not yet recovered. 

Again, it seems to the native that it is very easy to 
earn, by doing some little odd task for the European, 
the pittance which suffices to keep him alive for a few 
days. That much secured, there is no occasion to worry 
about the future, and he "knocks off" all work until his 
purse is once more empty and his stomach calling for 
food. The same statement which has been made about 
the Fulas* may be repeated here as applicable to both 
sides of the continent as well as all across the broad zone 
in which the true negroes are found: the people are 
examples of bad results arrived at when a strange civili- 
sation has become dominant and yet is not properly 
assimilated by the natives. The present state of the 
* See Chapter XI, Upper Senegal and Niger. 



THE BLACKS IN AFRICA 231 

African negro is, in nearly every respect, decidedly worse 
than was the first. The exploiting of his country, the 
establishing of steamboat lines on the rivers and lakes, 
the building of railways all over the continent, have made 
it easier for the people to gratify their natural fondness 
for moving about — simply to be on the go, for business 
they have none — and they yield most readily; but the 
assimilation of the civilisation that all this develop- 
ment connotes has not yet attained the level which those 
who wish the negro well would like to see. Of other 
conditions, such as the horrors of the Belgian Kongo, and 
other places where they are somewhat similar, yet not 
quite so bad, we will not speak further here. It is enough 
to say that it is the influence of the acts of Europeans 
which has brought about such conditions, and which 
would keep them alive indefinitely were it not for 
public sentiment, of which the African negro, who is 
the real sufferer, knows nothing All this must do more 
to counteract the altruistic efforts of missionary and 
teacher than has been accomplished for permanent good 
in the way of evangelisation at all the mission sta- 
tions throughout Central Africa put together. Nominally 
the slave trade has been abolished, but it is true that 
festering spots still exist — a disgrace to our vaunted 
Christian civilisation. 

Of the future for the blacks in Africa it is difficult 
to speak. Pessimistic as it sounds, the present writer 
looks upon it as likely to be hopeless in the extreme. 
What has been said by earnest, hopeful, and sympathetic 
observers, diplomats and consuls, scientists, merchants, 
travellers, missionaries, concerning the natives of the 



232 AFRICA TO-DAY 

West Coast, is equally applicable to those of the interior 
and of the East Coast. They have no idea of business 
— for their bartering is not business — and no exchange 
of arts; the little they do of their own initiative in agri- 
culture and stock-raising is not a sufficient foundation 
upon which to erect an economic structure that is to 
survive. Throughout this broad belt the natives, even 
when they profess Christianity, have no resource of 
occupation or employment upon which to fall back 
when they are made to realise that one of the first prin- 
ciples of that religion demands the sweat of the brow 
before there shall be eating of bread. They are natu- 
rally idle, and in idleness they readily fall into evil. The 
contact with European civilisation, when that contact 
comes outside the confines of the mission station, too 
often brings an education which panders to their idleness 
and proneness to evil. If something salutary and per- 
manent is to be done to save the Blacks of Equatorial 
Africa from extermination, there must be co-operation 
between governments, merchants, and missionaries to 
establish industrial and technical schools in order that 
the weakly disposition to idleness may be overcome and 
something like capital secured ; and this effort must pass 
out beyond the door of the school until watchful care 
shall round out the good work begun by the teacher. 



CHAPTER XIV 
EVERYBODY'S AFRICA 

ON a recent sketch map of Africa, dated iqio, 
there were just three spots uncoloured, indicat- 
ing independence, — Abyssinia, Morocco, and the little 
republic, Liberia; together their area did not reach 
seven hundred thousand square miles. Morocco's 
estimated one hundred and seventy thousand was a 
very indefinite quantity, and Abyssinia's four hundred 
and sixty-two thousand is another rough approxima- 
tion. Liberia's forty-one thousand is now fairly exact. 
It is, however, reasonably safe to say that these three 
States are but about one-twentieth of the whole conti- 
nent, and they were all that was not under the control 
of a European Power. While writing this book, nego- 
tiations were concluded between France and Germany 
whereby Morocco virtually ceases to be an independent 
State, and may hereafter be included with France's 
other holdings, for Spain's protest is really to be looked 
upon as a negligible quantity. As a matter of absolute 
fact, however, Abyssinia is the only part of Africa which 
possesses even a semblance of original autonomy. It is 
still nominally, at any rate, ruled by natives; whereas 
Morocco is not governed by aborigines, and Liberia is 
a creation of comparatively modern times, whose gov- 
ernment has in no way connection with the original 
inhabitants of the land. 

233 



234 AFRICA TO-DAY 

Now this means that these three countries — Abys- 
sinia, Liberia, and Morocco — are all that is left, in 1910, 
of the great continent which had not been taken under 
the " protection" of some one of the European nations. 
Admitting cheerfully the benefit to the whole world 
which this "protection" may confer, yet not accepting 
it as a necessary result in every aspect, it is still some- 
what depressing to think that all efforts to civilise Africa 
have resulted in there being but the handful of its inhab- 
itants still living in Abyssinia who are considered able 
to take care of themselves; for, after all, the dominant 
class in Morocco are aliens, and Liberia, nominally ruled 
by officials who are elected, is nevertheless " protected" 
by the United States. 

Considering this sketch map in its most important 
phase — that is, taking careful account of the markings 
that indicate the particular European Power which claims 
protectorate rights — we find that Great Britain, France, 
Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Turkey 
have all felt called upon to grab some part or parts of 
Africa for various alleged reasons, most of them specious, 
although others appeal strongly to our sense of propriety. 
It is probably true that some of the European countries 
are overcrowded in their population, and that being so 
it seems but right and natural that the government of a 
particular State should prefer to get possession of a piece 
of land in another continent and have absolute controlling 
rights there than to see its citizens go to the United 
States, or Canada, or some one of the South American 
republics as colonists, there to become contributors 
towards the support of another government — possibly 



EVERYBODY'S AFRICA 235 

a commercial or military rival — and eventually expatri- 
ate themselves, as does that large percentage of European 
emigrants who are really desirable citizens in the countries 
wherein they make their new homes. But the specious- 
ness of some of the alleged reasons for acquiring a 
part of Africa is manifest to all disinterested persons 
who have read what has been said in the preceding 
chapters of the climate, generally, in Africa. Compara- 
tively little of the great continent's 11,508,793 square 
miles is suited to colonisation by Europeans; the Medi- 
terranean littoral is not really attractive to Europeans 
who desire to make permanent homes and rear families. 
Back of that narrow foreshore, with only occasional 
attractive spots, is the wide, practically impossible 
desert, whose oases even are not in every way desirable 
" homes"; then comes equatorial Africa, with barely 
possible colonies on the extreme eastern and western 
coasts, but quite impossible in the interior, and we must 
go a long way down towards South Africa before we 
reach territory that is properly adapted to European 
colonisation. 

"The scramble for Africa" is a coined phrase which 
most aptly describes the determination of sundry Euro- 
pean Powers to get just as large slices of the continent 
as possible. The earliest efforts of Holland, Great 
Britain, and France can hardly be stigmatised as an 
indecent scramble. Holland's effort, as has been shown, 
was a perfectly legitimate one, and in it she received 
some co-operation from France; although we may very 
properly take exception to Holland's methods apropos 
of the natives. The joint effort of Great Britain and 



236 AFRICA TO-DAY 

France in Egypt did not contemplate colonisation, and 
since the latter has been ousted, upon tacit understand- 
ing that she is to have a free hand in other parts of the 
continent, the former has not strengthened her hold with 
any idea of making Egypt a colony for British emigrants. 
Great Britain's supplanting Holland in South Africa 
was not looked upon with favour by the British people 
for a long time. In Parliament there was, at one time, 
a resolution introduced and accepted by a large majority 
vote declaring that further effort in promoting South 
African colonisation was to be deprecated. This atti- 
tude was so general and so strong that the ambition of 
those who had in mind to secure a broad belt, north 
and south through the longitudinal centre of the conti- 
nent, to connect the Egyptian " sphere of influence" 
with the actual possessions in the extreme south, was so 
effectually blocked that when the time came, as it was 
sure to come, for the great importance of this to be appar- 
ent to every Briton, the opportunity to acquire this most 
desirable right of way had been lost forever. Germany 
and Belgium had closed in south of the equator and 
from the southern end of Lake Tanganyika up to the 
Uganda Protectorate the Cape to Cairo Railway — the 
exclusive control of which would be so highly advan- 
tageous to Great Britain — must traverse lands over 
which England exercises no rights. 

If we somewhat arbitrarily fix the date, we may say 
that the scramble for Africa began in 1884. Not a full 
decade before that year an over-liberal estimate of the 
areas in Africa controlled by European nations put the 
total at about one million two hundred and seventy- 



EVERYBODY'S AFRICA 237 

one thousand square miles or only one-tenth, roughly, 
of the continent. These figures include the claim of 
Portugal, known to be impossible, to something like 
seven hundred thousand square miles and embracing a 
vague hinterland to her coast possessions, although the 
area under her effective control did not actually exceed 
about forty thousand square miles. Great Britain, 
before the real scramble began, had two hundred and 
fifty thousand square miles, France one hundred and 
seventy thousand, Spain one thousand, and the indepen- 
dent Dutch republics, the Transvaal and the Orange 
Free State, one hundred and fifty thousand. All of 
these figures are merely rough approximations, for any- 
thing like precise surveys and strict delimitations have 
not yet been made in most of the African protecto- 
rates. " Egypt and the Egyptian Sudan, Tunisia, and 
Tripoli were subject in differing ways to the overlord- 
ship of the Sultan of Turkey, and with these may be 
ranked, in the scale of organised governments, the three 
principal independent states, Morocco, Abyssinia, and 
Zanzibar, as also the negro republic of Liberia." In 
Central Africa, below the Sahara and Libya deserts, 
almost a full half of the continent, and virtually all within 
the tropics, was still held by innumerable tribes, with 
every conceivable form of government, from an " empire" 
down to a petty village community of just a few huts. 

It is not difficult to determine the moving causes 
which led to the cutting up of Africa and the appropria- 
tion of the slices by European states. The first of the 
excuses for the "scramble" is not usually given much 
prominence by writers who hold a brief from their respec- 



238 AFRICA TO-DAY 

tive governments, but there is no such impediment to 
declaring here that it was simply a game of "they should 
take who have the power and they should keep who 
can." The weakness of the African people was the 
opportunity for Europe's strength. To say that this 
native chief or that negro king asked some European 
monarch to take him under his protection is simply 
euphemism. After Great Britain realised that Germany 
had designs upon African territory, it was a case of "off 
we go and the devil take the hindermost." That is a 
plain, ingenuous statement made without intending to 
hurt anybody's feelings, and certainly without thought 
of flattery. 

There is, to be sure, something more to be said. 
The war between France and Prussia had several im- 
portant effects. The unification of all Germany and 
the creation of the German Empire was only one. This 
strong empire most naturally became imbued with a 
desire to shine as a World Power and to emulate Great 
Britain as a creator and promoter of overseas colonies. 
France, too, rose from her defeat with much the same 
ambition. There was no opportunity for either people 
to accomplish its desire in South America, for the re- 
affirmation of the principles of the Monroe Doctrine 
by the United States, if they had seemed to be weak 
during our own troubles in 1861 to 1865, later supported 
morally by the British Government, effectually closed 
that part of the world to French or German colonisation 
schemes. It seemed at that time as if Great Britain, 
France, Holland, Portugal, and Spain held all other 
regions where colonies might be established. We do 



EVERYBODY S AFRICA 239 

not here take cognisance of what several European 
Powers did a few years later in securing larger or smaller 
tracts of Chinese territory. If there are parts of Central 
Asia where European colonists might prosper, there are 
Powers having, so they claim, preponderant interests 
which prompt them to say to all others "Keep off!" 
Africa was the only section left, and to that continent 
the European Powers went almost en masse. 

That Africa was not and is not, save in the certain 
parts to be considered later, a desirable place for Euro- 
pean colonists is patent from the fact that although it 
has been for centuries at Europe's very door, acces- 
sible easily in every way, there was not, until the last 
few years of the nineteenth century, any great and 
popular move made to exploit the country. It was 
King Leopold II's ambition which was the prime mov- 
ing cause that led to the scramble. However much and 
justly we may condemn the brutal methods for carry- 
ing out his schemes which he sanctioned, and for which 
the world will always hold him primarily and solely 
responsible, we cannot deny that he combined in his 
own person remarkable qualities of financier, indus- 
trialist, and promoter. While we may inveigh against 
his methods, we cannot keep from him a measure of 
praise for carrying out his scheme to success. It was 
certainly so successful that it provoked the rivalry of 
both France and Germany and it went so far that it 
eventually compelled Great Britain to grant him access 
to the upper Nile; and this we may be quite sure would 
never have been done from merely altruistic feeling. 

Belgium having started the grab-game, Germany and 



240 AFRICA TO-DAY 

• 

France were prompt in taking a hand. Portugal at first 
insisted upon having a belt right across the continent to 
join together her possessions on both coasts. This, it 
need hardly be said, was promptly objected to by Great 
Britain, and not only that, but Portugal was held down 
to much smaller shares than entirely satisfied her. Ger- 
many took as much as possible and now wishes more, 
which she will probably get. France's plans for increas- 
ing her holdings in Africa had been already suggested, 
and there was little opposition raised to her designs upon 
the whole of the Sahara, with the several tracts, already 
described, reaching down to the Gulf of Guinea. Great 
Britain bestirred itself, but it was too late to overcome 
the obstacle raised by the feelings of those statesmen 
and publicists at home who were opposed to further 
territorial expansion in Central and South Africa. Italy 
followed the lead of the others and was the only power 
to co-operate with Great Britain, the rest combating 
Italian efforts at every point. Italy's wisdom was 
rewarded by the peaceful acquisition of the Red Sea 
colony, Eritrea. Even then she had designs upon 
Tripoli, held in check by fear of war. Yet it may be 
that Italy's discretion is to be rewarded by securing 
Tripoli, although the issue of the present war is not 
yet determined, and this may be a sentimental wish 
to regain a possession of Old Rome. And what will 
be the fate of Abyssinia ? We do not believe that 
the independence of that kingdom is to be permanent, 
and we are inclined to think that erelong Italy will 
be further rewarded by being allowed to add it to 
Eritrea. 



EVERYBODY'S AFRICA 24I 

With these things brought about for Italy, and 
France guaranteed a free hand in Morocco, absolutely 
the whole of Africa — with the exception of little 
Liberia — will be under the domination of Europe; for 
the authority of the Sultan of Turkey in Egypt may be 
quietly ignored. But to retrace our steps for a moment, 
we must comment upon a most daring scheme of France. 
After the defeat of the Italians by the Abyssinians and 
the temporary weakening of Great Britain's influence 
in the Egyptian Sudan, because of the overthrow of the 
Khalifa's power in the upper Nile region, France con- 
ceived the idea of pushing through the heart of Africa to 
connect her possessions — now known as the Ubangi- 
Shari-Chad Colony — with her little French Somaliland 
Protectorate. This gave rise to the Fashoda episode, 
and pretty nearly brought Great Britain and France 
into war in the very heart of Africa. 

The list of international agreements and conventions 
which were entered into by the European Powers for the 
partition of Africa makes interesting reading of a certain 
kind; although the disinterested outsider is pretty sure 
to comment upon the fact that no African State was 
a party to any of them. The natives' rights were 
absolutely ignored and the division was carried on as if 
there were no inhabitants to be considered. Reading 
that list, in connection with comments made upon the 
conditions which led up to the agreements and the effects 
produced in certain instances, causes a smile at times 
when we note how national ambition was thwarted. An 
example is to be found in the Anglo-Kongolese agree- 
ment of May 12, 1894, whereby King Leopold II's 



242 AFRICA TO-DAY 

lease (?) of certain territories in the western basin of the 
upper Nile, extending along the Nile from a point on 
Lake Albert Nyanza to Fashoda and westward to the 
Kongo-Nile watershed, was recognised. The upsetting 
of British plans for a monopoly of the Nile basin calls 
for no further comment. 

If not precisely corollaries to what has just been 
written, Africa's attractions for the European set- 
tler, for the sportsman, and for the tourist, may now 
be discussed briefly. The possibilities for the merchant 
and industrialist are deliberately ignored, for they 
concern classes who are amply supplied with informa- 
tion and statistics upon which they rely in determining 
their course of procedure. This aspect of Africa is one 
which calls for esoteric knowledge and its consummation 
depends largely upon the spirit of the authorities govern- 
ing a particular region, when a merchant or industrialist 
of another country — America, for example — seeks to 
secure for himself a share of the commerce or physical 
exploitation of that region. In passing, however, it 
may be noted that, when all the conditions and cir- 
cumstances of the case are given their due weight and 
a reasonable (unfortunately, a necessary) allowance is 
made for national, class, or individual jealousy, the 
measure of success achieved by citizens of the United 
States in contributing towards the physical, industrial, 
and agricultural development of Africa is by no means 
contemptible; and persons who are interested in such 
matters, or who are disposed to scout that last statement 
as being unduly optimistic, are commended to the pub- 
lished returns of the American Custom House Service 



EVERYBODY'S AFRICA 243 

for precise information as to materials sent to Africa 
and their values. But the opportunities for settler, 
sportsman, and tourist come within the realm of 
speculation and therefore are not necessarily debarred 
here. 

As has been already stated in the preceding chapters, 
with the exception of less than half a dozen ports 
along both the west and the east coasts, and the 
higher lands of the interior, but in regions where 
other conditions are not attractive (until we get below 
about the tenth degree of south latitude), there is com- 
paratively little of Africa that is suited to the needs of 
the European settler; and we think we may safely say 
that Great Britain is the only Power which really has 
something satisfactory to offer such immigrants. We 
ought to interpolate here that by immigrants we intend 
to limit our meaning to those who enter one country 
from another with the intention of settling down as 
permanent residents, who intend to make homes for 
themselves and their families, who expect to bring up 
their children as citizens of the adopted country, and 
who are, as a rule, agriculturalists; yet, at the same 
time, what we shall say applies, other things being 
equal, to all other classes who enter the new country 
with the purpose of making it their permanent home. 

The east coast of Africa is, in our opinion, entirely 
unsuited to white settlers until one has gone well down 
into Natal. Conditions are somewhat better along 
the southwest coast, because Portuguese West Africa 
and German South West Africa are by no means im- 
possible places of abode for European immigrants. The 



244 AFRICA TO-DAY 

best part of the whole continent, however, is to be found 
in certain sections of the British possessions, the Union of 
South Africa. Not only are physical conditions — that 
is, climate, soil, and meteorology — admirably suited 
to the needs of people of the white race, but the develop- 
ment of the country is being pushed along just the lines 
which here contribute to their welfare by a govern- 
ment that is determined to do all in its power to build 
up a dominion which shall be the peer of the other 
white, self-governing, colonial realms of the British 
Empire — the Dominion of Canada and the Australian 
Commonwealth. 

The crown lands, or what we Americans would call 
the public lands, are being surveyed and allotted to 
bona fide settlers upon terms that are even more liberal 
than are those the United States Government grants to 
actual homestead settlers; although some objection 
has been raised by loyal British subjects that facilities 
are made too easy for individual or corporation wealth 
to acquire large tracts of the most desirable agricultural 
lands — a process which inevitably operates to deter the 
man with limited means from seeking a home. The 
Government, too, is giving much attention to agricultural 
subjects in their widest range, through commissions of 
experts whose researches and conclusions are placed at 
the disposal of farmer, fruit grower, or experimenter 
without fee. Only a year ago an entomological com- 
mission was appointed by the Government to make 
thorough investigation into the ravages of certain 
destructive insects. The personnel of that commission 
was such as must command the respect of scientists the 




Copyright, Underwood cb° Underwood, N. Y. 

Native Porters Curing Antelope Meat after a Hunt 

In large sections of the African jungle food is scarce, 

and must be provided beforehand in this way 



EVERYBODY'S AFRICA 245 

world over and inspire confidence in the farmer for whose 
special benefit the commission worked; for it was not 
only scientific in its composition, but essentially practical 
in its methods and results as well. The members were 
drawn from various parts of the British Empire — McGill 
University, Montreal, Canada, was represented — and 
their combined knowledge and experience would seem 
to cover the ground as well as could be expected of any 
human effort. 

Without presuming to say that there are no other 
parts of Africa which offer reasonable inducements 
to European settlers, for the evidence to the contrary 
is quite sufficient to refute such a statement, it is 
entirely reasonable to say that, as conditions now are 
and are likely to be for some years, South Africa is the 
most attractive part of the continent in every way. Mr. 
Theodore Roosevelt, in " African Game Trails," draws 
pen and ink pictures of ranches in British East Africa 
which tend to make us believe that this part of the 
continent is a desirable locality for the European settler, 
but the evidence is not conclusive. 

Before considering Africa as a " happy hunting 
ground," we should first define a sportsman, for the 
word is often outrageously misused. Such a man is 
something more than a mere killer of wild animals or the 
slaughterer of birds that have been fattened and tamed 
in " preserves"; and the true sportsman is, or ought to 
be, not the one who measures his success solely by the 
size of his "bag"! In North America we have suffered 
too much from 'indiscriminate slaughter of wild animals 
to be willing to call such men sportsmen, such as are the 



246 AFRICA TO-DAY 

miscreants who prowl about the bounds of the Yellow- 
stone Park hoping to get a shot at the few buffaloes who 
now stand as the only representatives of millions killed 
by " sportsmen." 

We cannot look with toleration upon some of the 
expeditions to Africa that have been made simply that 
the "sportsman" might say he had killed so many ele- 
phants or even lions — of that kind we have read ad 
nauseam; and we are provoked to the verge of anger 
when we read of the great "game drive" organised for 
the delectation of His Royal Highness the Duke of 
Connaught, when a vast number of animals (and not 
destructive or noxious ones) were simply butchered in 
cold blood. Nor have we much patience with some of 
the alleged expeditions to kill great game in order that 
the collections of our Natural History Museums may 
be enriched, when the narratives of such expeditions 
give accounts of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of other 
animals merely killed and left to feed hyenas and 
beasts of prey that lack courage and strength to provide 
for themselves. 

If a sportsman has some reasonable object and legit- 
imate purpose, he will still find plenty of elephants, 
giraffes, hippopotamuses, and other African great game 
to give him muscular exertion and test the steadiness 
of his nerves as he faces their charge. The great 
Game Reserves of British East Africa, the Northern 
and the Southern, of many thousand square miles in 
area, are one of the well-conceived and wisely adminis- 
tered efforts on the part of the British Government to 
do at least something to prevent the utter extinction of 



EVERYBODY'S AFRICA 247 

the great animals. Part of the wisdom displayed lies 
in the choice of sections of the country which are not 
likely to be of great value for agricultural or industrial 
purposes. 

A goodly portion of these reserves fall within the 
nyika that was mentioned in Chapter X. The North- 
ern Reserve is in the upper part of the colony, above 
the Guaso Nyiro River and east of Lake Rudolf. It 
reaches up to the Abyssinian frontier, and, roughly 
estimated, there are thirty-eight thousand square miles 
in it. But not yet being properly guarded, it suffers 
much from the depredations of hunters, who are not 
sportsmen, coming in from Abyssinia to kill elephants 
wantonly and "run" the ivory to the Red Sea coast 
at French or Italian ports. It is a wild country, torn by 
vast clefts — the Rift valley is one — with many lakes 
that have not yet been properly explored and rivers 
which are still traced on the map with broken lines beto- 
kening indefinite knowledge. There are, too, a number 
of mountains that appeal to the adventurous explorer. 

The Southern Reserve is smaller and stretches along 
the southern border of the province, a mile or so to the 
north of the Nairobi railway and down to the south- 
ern and western provincial borders. Germany, like- 
wise, is doing something commendable in this effort to 
protect the great game of Africa in her East African 
Protectorate. Then, too, as will have been noted in 
reading the preceding chapters, there are other places 
where the great pachyderms, the lion, and many other 
animals are still to be found in sufficient numbers to 
leave Africa a paradise for the true sportsman. 



248 AFRICA TO-DAY 

Mr. Roosevelt says, of the Southern Game Reserve: 
"Next morning we were in the game country, and as 
we sat on the seat over the cow-catcher, it was liter- 
ally like passing through a vast zoological garden. 
Indeed, no such railway journey can be taken on any 
other line in any other land. At one time we passed a 
herd of a dozen or so of great giraffes, cows and calves, 
cantering along through the open woods a couple of 
hundred yards to the left of the track. Again, still 
closer, four waterbuck cows, their big ears thrown 
forward, stared at us without moving until we had 
passed. Hartebeestes were everywhere; one herd was 
on the track, and when the engine whistled they 
bucked and sprang with ungainly agility and galloped 
clear of danger. A long-tailed, straw-coloured monkey 
ran from one tree to another. Huge black ostriches 
appeared from time to time. Once a troop of impalla 
close by the track took fright, and as the beauti- 
ful creatures fled we saw now one and now another 
bound clear over the high bushes. A herd of zebra 
clattered across a cutting of the line not a hundred yards 
ahead of the train; the whistle hurried their progress, 
but only for a minute, and as we passed they were 
already turning round to gaze. The wild creatures were 
in their sanctuary and they knew it." This is certainly 
attractive to the keen, true sportsman and we hope no 
other will be induced to make an effort to secure trophies; 
also that he will know exactly where to place those 
trophies that they may have some educational value, and 
not be simply the senseless objects of that desire in so 
many human beings to kill something. Mr. George H. 



EVERYBODY'S AFRICA 249 

Scull's " Lassoing Wild Animals in Africa" is an account 
of " Buffalo" Jones' expedition in 1910, and it tells of 
quite a different phase of the sportsman's pleasure in 
East Africa. It is a book that appeals strongly to every 
true lover of dangerous sport. 



CHAPTER XV 

AMERICA'S RELATIONS WITH AFRICA. AFRICA 
IN THE FUTURE 

AS "Sunset" Cox states in his book, "A Search for 
Winter Sunbeams, " it was not long after the 
United States had achieved her independence and had 
been recognised as a nation that she felt called upon to 
show her new flag in African waters and to move in 
the matter of checking the outrageous depredations of the 
Barbary Corsairs. Although the relations between the 
two English-speaking nations are now almost brotherly 
and the sentiment of both Americans and Britons strongly 
for peace, it is useless to close our eyes to the fact that in 
the last decade of the eighteenth century and until long 
after the middle of the nineteenth, the feeling in England 
was generally hostile towards the United States. Cir- 
cumstances so shaped themselves after the War of Ameri- 
can Independence that the American merchant marine 
took on rapid development and the type of vessel 
flying the Stars and Stripes became a serious menace 
to the British effort to keep a monopoly of the Medi- 
terranean trade. The jealousy which this success of 
American ships created found expression in many ways, 
and one of them was the affirmation by an English 
statesman that if there were no Barbary Corsairs it 
would pay the British Government to subsidise them 

250 



RELATIONS WITH AFRICA 251 

just to have them act aggressively in crippling the 
Yankee merchant service. It is more than suspected 
that some of the captures of ships and the harsh treat- 
ment of their crews, if not actually instigated by 
British machinations, were made possible by substantial 
contributions of money and munitions of war supplied 
to the Corsairs from English ports. 

There is an interesting volume, entitled "The Sea- 
Wolves of the Mediterranean," which gives the story 
of how these pirates came to be as formidable as they 
undoubtedly were; but the reader of that book will be 
likely to conclude that the author has seen fit to depict 
his heroes in rather bright colours, and we may not, 
perhaps, entirely endorse his opinion of them. If any- 
one wishes to know precisely the evolution of the Bar- 
bary Corsairs, he will find all he needs in that book. We 
are interested in knowing only that they did exist, and 
that in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries they were 
a scourge which Europe tolerated for such a long time 
as to justify the charge that it was to Europe's disgrace 
that these creatures were permitted to go so long un- 
punished, or rather without being absolutely annihilated. 
Their haunts were well chosen, both offensively and de- 
fensively; for the rocky coast of the Mediterranean from 
the Straits of Gibraltar to Cape Bon (Tunis), and the low 
shore eastward of that point, where the water is shoal 
and reefs extend far off shore, make an almost ideal 
place for such pirates to carry on their occupation, 
because it was difficult to find them and well-nigh im- 
possible for an armed vessel of any size to follow them 
into their refuges. 



1$1 AFRICA TO-DAY 

Had the Barbary Corsairs been contented with piracy 
alone, and shown even a trace of human consideration 
for the unfortunate people who came to them as a part 
of their booty, there might, perhaps, be less to say 
against them. But religious fanaticism, self-stimulated 
to frenzy, and racial hatred, aroused by what we must 
frankly say was absolutely an unjust act of the Christian 
Spaniards, had so much to do with influencing these Sea- 
Wolves that their treatment of captives was inhuman 
to a degree almost indescribable. We do not mean to 
intimate that the pitiful condition of the Christian slaves 
in those Barbary States was not known throughout 
Europe, or that it did not arouse great sympathy in all 
parts of Christendom; that would be unjust. For as 
early as 1199 there was founded in Paris the "Order of 
the Holy Trinity and Redemption of Captives." Its 
members were called Fathers of the Redemption or 
Mathurins, from the church of St. Mathurin, and they 
devoted their lives to effecting the ransom of captives 
and the alleviation of their deplorable misery; the lay- 
following was large, wealthy, and influential. But it 
seems almost incredible and certainly inexcusable that 
Europe should so long have tolerated the existence of 
the Scourges and all that they stood for. Expeditions 
were sent against them but there was not that con- 
certed action, directed by intelligent zeal and competent 
officers, which alone could have effected their extermi- 
nation prior to the early years of the eighteenth century 
and the later development of warships. 

Long before the War of Independence there were 
American citizens held as slaves in North Africa. But 



RELATIONS WITH AFRICA 253 

when those pirates had learnt to know our flag as the 
ensign of a new nation and one they assumed to be weak, 
they thought our merchant ships would be easily cap- 
tured; and for a long time this conclusion was justified. 
Between 1783, the year the independence of the United 
States was recognised, and 1801, when Commodore 
Richard Dale was sent with a squadron of four vessels 
to begin active measures against the pirates, we have 
records of a great number of captures, and we know 
that the prisoners were usually treated with characteris- 
tic cruelty; for among those unfortunates were univer- 
sity graduates and others possessing sufficient literary 
ability to tell the story of their experiences as slaves 
most convincingly, when the opportunity came, with 
release, to do so. 

We should like to tell again here the story of 
America's castigation of those Barbary Corsairs while 
yet in her infancy as a nation. The episodes display 
individual and concerted bravery and the account 
would recall names of which we are justly proud — 
Dale, who had been Paul Jones' first lieutenant in the 
famous fight between the Bon Homme Richard and the 
Serapis in 1779, Bainbridge, whose first command in 
Mediterranean waters was the frigate George Wash- 
ington, the two Barrons, Sterrett, Porter, Preble, and 
so many other gallant naval officers, and, not forgetting 
civilians, who actually suffered more mentally as well as 
physically than did the military, Eaton, Cathcart, John 
Adams; but it is not well to introduce the " Twice- 
told Tale." It was not until 18 17 that what is called 
the final peace with the Barbary Corsairs was secured, 



254 AFRICA TO-DAY 

and then only when they had been thoroughly scourged. 
"Trouble with the Barbary States, so far as concerned 
the United States, was now at an end, except occa- 
sional trivial difficulties with consuls. But it was 
considered prudent to keep a naval force in the Medi- 
terranean for several years. The need of this is alluded 
to in nearly all the annual messages of the presidents 
down to 1830."* 

As a nation we at first made the mistake of following 
the example of Europe in dealing with these creatures 
and tried to purchase peace and protection for our 
citizens from people who had not one grain of truth or 
honour as individuals, and as communities no respect 
whatever for the obligations of a treaty. When, however, 
the mistake of this course became apparent, the con- 
trary method, and the only right one, was followed so 
strenuously as to have the direct, salutary effect upon 
the actual offenders and the indirect, wholesome one 
of making Europe bestir herself. Contemplating the 
episode of America's relations with the Barbary Corsairs 
as a whole, there was nothing to make the people of the 
United States blush with shame when looking back at 
the efforts of their navy to suppress the nuisance, and 
the first — and as is to be hoped the only — appearance 
of the American flag in transatlantic waters, borne 
with martial intent, was creditable. One phase of the 
slave trade was certainly checked. If we cannot say 
that since 181 7 there have been absolutely no more 
Christian white slaves held in the Barbary States — for 
there have been occasionally such prisoners — yet rarely 
*"Our Navy and the Barbary Corsairs," Gardner W. Allen. 



RELATIONS WITH AFRICA 255 

has their treatment been marked by the cruelties of a 
hundred years and more ago, and always their release 
has been speedily achieved; either by punitive military 
expeditions or payment of ransom. 

Later, but not until after the middle of the nineteenth 
century, the United States took its part somewhat per- 
functorily in the suppression of the African slave trade, 
when heathen blacks were the victims of rapacity and 
of cruelties which put to shame the miseries of the 
white slaves chained to the rowing-bench in a Moorish 
galley, confined in filthy dungeons, or held as menials 
in the home of a brutal Mussulman master. Slavery 
is a topic which presents no attractions however we 
may look at it; yet it is a condition, a phase of human 
society, that asserts itself no matter how far we go back 
in history. Without seeking to support this statement 
with references to other portions of the globe, we may 
say that from the very earliest dates of competent 
history we know it has been the custom in Africa for 
victors to hold their human prizes of war as slaves, 
as well as to acquire such property by purchase, and 
these conditions exist to this very day in all parts of the 
continent where European Powers have not made and 
enforced the manumission of domestic slaves obligatory 
or decreed that their offspring should be absolutely 
free. In some of the Central African countries, or rather 
among some of the tribes, where cannibalism has not 
yet been effectually stamped out, it is the rule for slaves 
to be fattened and eaten. Indeed, it is often contended 
by these man-eating peoples that in no circumstances 
must a slave be allowed to die a natural death, for if 



2$6 AFRICA TO-DAY 

he were to do so, his ghost would inevitably return and 
murder his master, — a direful possibility that is obvi- 
ated safely by the butchering and eating of the slave. 
Although just how the spirit, or ghost, of the victim is 
eliminated by murder and yet persists in the case of 
natural death has not been made clear by competent 
students. 

The odious distinction of having been the first person 
to interest the English people in the negro slave trade 
belongs to Sir John Hawkins. "In 1562 he transported 
a large cargo of Africans to Hispaniola (Haiti). The rich 
returns of sugar, ginger, and pearls attracted the notice 
of Queen Elizabeth, and five years later she took shares 
in a new expedition, though the commerce, on the part 
of the English, in Spanish ports, was by the law of Spain 
illicit, as well as by the law of morals detestable."* It 
is not fair to the American colonies first, and later to 
the young United States, to say that they willingly 
accepted negro slavery. In other British colonies such 
slaves were held before there was one in the British 
colonies of North America which subsequently became 
the United States; and in those same colonies slaves 
were owned after negro slavery ceased to exist in the 
United States, 1863. In August, 1619, a Dutch man-of- 
war entered the James River, Virginia, and landed 
twenty negroes who were offered for sale. This merchan- 
dise was not made welcome, and it is not too much to 
say that had the vessel not been a warship, flying the flag 
of a friendly State, the opposition to the introduction 
and sale of these human beings might have been insistent 
* Bancroft, " History of the United States." 



RELATIONS WITH AFRICA 257 

to the final point. Nor were subsequent similar adven- 
tures of forcing negro slaves into the colonies received 
with favour for some time. Indeed, the sentiment of 
the colonists was generally and strongly opposed to the 
traffic, and even after the War of Independence the wish 
of Maryland and Virginia was to abolish negro slavery. 

But it was contended, and with some semblance of 
reason, it must be admitted, that in the extreme Southern 
States it was impossible in those early days to cultivate 
the fields with white labourers, altogether insufficient 
in numbers and ill-suited to the task physically, while 
Indian labour was simply impossible. The tilling of 
the Southern cotton fields, picking the lint, cleaning it, 
and preparing it for market could be done satisfactorily, 
at least, by the ignorant slaves; but the industries of 
the North demanded of the workmen a fair measure of 
intelligence not found inherently in the negro and not 
to be given him through the possible education then 
provided. Where slavery was profitable, therefore, it 
was tolerated before it was welcomed, and since house 
servants may be said to be able to do their work without 
the need of much natural intelligence, there were negro 
slaves in that capacity as far north even as Massa- 
chusetts. At one period, as a matter of fact, and for 
some time, there were such domestic slaves in all the thir- 
teen colonies, in addition to the field hands owned in 
considerable numbers in some of the other colonies. 

But most of the colonists realised that it was unprofit- 
able as well as impolitic to hold slaves, and before the 
War of Independence their representative officials (not 
the Government appointees) were protesting against the 



258 AFRICA TO-DAY 

determination of the British Government to increase 
the number of slaves in the face of such colonial legisla- 
tive action as the following: Massachusetts, in 1641, 
in her "Body of Liberties," declared that there should 
never be any bond slavery, villeinage, or captivity in 
the colony, " unless it be lawful captives taken in just 
wars, or such strangers as willingly sell themselves or are 
sold to us." In 1652 Rhode Island passed this resolu- 
tion: " No black mankind or white shall be held to service 
longer than ten years." We are more than half inclined 
to laugh at the sophistry which led many of the Puritan 
slave-owners to seek to quiet their consciences by assert- 
ing stoutly that America would confer benefit upon 
Africa by fostering and even increasing the slave trade; 
on the principle that one slave brought under Christian 
influences was better than a thousand free heathen in 
the wilds of Africa. 

In colonial days, and until just before the culmination 
of differences in the Revolution, the royal governors 
were charged to keep their markets open for the sale of 
negro slaves, to stimulate the colonists to buy them, 
and every measure adopted by the colonial legislatures 
to restrict that traffic was rendered inoperative by the 
royal veto. In December, 1770, the King of England, 
George III, over his own signature, issued instructions 
to the governor of Virginia commanding him, "upon 
pain of the highest displeasure, to assent to no law by 
which the importation of slaves should be in any respect 
prohibited or obstructed." Virginia demurred vehe- 
mently to this royal interference with what was even 
then contended was a right in the matter of self-govern- 



RELATIONS WITH AFRICA 259 

ment, and so did all the other colonies to the principle 
for which His Majesty was asserting himself. After the 
Revolution even, Maryland and Virginia opposed negro 
slavery, and we may note the attitude of their leading 
statesmen and scholars. It was not until tobacco plant- 
ing became the industry of the former and sympathy 
was keen in the latter that this form of slavery attained 
the importance of an established institution. 

But there was another form of slavery existing in the 
American colonies which has no direct bearing upon 
Africa, and yet must be mentioned here in order that 
a properly comprehensive view of conditions affecting 
the African slave trade may be had. This form of 
slavery is what was called "indentured servitude." 
Boys and girls, men and women, were bound out as 
servants for a term of years and became, to all intents 
and purposes, the slaves of their masters upon payment 
by the latter of a " bonus" that was easily juggled into 
purchase money.- Sometimes the child was " bound 
out" by its parents, who received a part of the bonus, 
to be a servant, lodged, clothed, and fed, for a term of 
years. Often this binding out was a form of punish- 
ment ordered by the State for crime or misdemeanour 
that to-day would be attended to in a reform school. 
Not unfrequently the man or woman bound himself 
voluntarily in order to secure passage to the New World, 
in the hope of bettering his condition when the term of 
indenture had been completed. Too often the adults 
sent out to this " indentured servitude" were most un- 
desirable as citizens for the colonies; frequently they 
were criminals, the scourings of prisons or brothels, 



260 AFRICA TO-DAY 

and their coming was usually resented hotly. As the 
colonies grew in population and desirable house servants 
became scarce, the demand for these indentured servants, 
at any rate the better ones, increased beyond the supply 
and kidnapping was resorted to in the mother country. 

Yet even such shameful measures were not sufficient 
to supply the demand, and there was, seemingly, no 
recourse but to sanction and even stimulate the impor- 
tation of more and more negro slaves. Thus it will be 
understood that this holding of white slaves had a con- 
siderable bearing upon negro slavery. It is interesting 
to note that the Pennsylvania Quakers, who were always 
vociferously opposed to African slavery, were yet among 
the leaders in patronising this " indentured servitude." 
In 1696 it was estimated that there were more inden- 
tured servants in Pennsylvania than in all the rest of 
the colonies put together, and it should be remembered, 
too, that these were nothing more nor less than white 
slaves, because their term of servitude was rarely closed 
in fact at the date stipulated in the articles of indenture ; 
either moral suasion or debt was used as a coercive 
club to compel renewal of servitude almost indefinitely. 

But the opposition to negro slavery, which we have 
seen was actively sincere and earnestly expressed in the 
colonies, grew in force and in strength of expression 
after the formation of the Union; but now it was heard 
more to the north of Mason and Dixon's line, the boun- 
dary between Pennsylvania and Maryland which divided 
the free and the slave states. It was the beginning of 
the movement for the abolition of negro slavery, and 
although the effort was at first directed towards the 



RELATIONS WITH AFRICA 261 

suppression of kidnapping blacks in Africa, their trans- 
portation to the United States in those "hells," the 
slave-ships, and their sale in America, it received some 
support from regions that later evinced most uncom- 
promising opposition to the central government's inter- 
ference with states' rights to hold slaves, and to the 
liberating of slaves already purchased or owned from 
birth by southern slaveholders. If we are compelled to 
admit, and the confession causes a blush of shame, that 
the effort of the United States in the suppression of the 
African slave trade was in the beginning and for three- 
quarters of a century not a mighty one, we may justly 
point with some pride to the fact that when the people 
of the United States became convinced that this blot 
must be effaced they paid for their conviction with men 
and means most unselfishly, and did not hesitate, for a 
thrilling moment in history, to face the possibility of 
breaking up the Union. 

In 1784 an unsuccessful effort was made in Congress 
to provide for the abolition of slavery after the year 1800. 
This was not done through a special bill, but as a " rider " 
to a bill providing for the admission of territories as 
states, etc., and the fact speaks volumes for the care 
which the abolitionists had to take to keep from arous- 
ing too vigorous antagonism. Ten years later, 1794, 
the first official step was taken along the pathway lead- 
ing to the suppression of the African slave trade, and, 
as a consequence, the abolition of slavery in the United 
States. At that time the North demanded and obtained 
the passing by Congress of a law for the suppression of 
the slave trade, which contained this provision: No 



262 AFRICA TO-DAY 

citizen and no foreigner was to be permitted to build or 
equip ships in any United States port for the slave trade 
of foreign countries. Unfortunately the invention of 
the cotton-gin just at that time gave such an impetus 
to the cultivation of cotton that the demand for slaves 
could not be supplied in the country. Liberated slaves 
were seized and taken South for sale, and because there 
was lacking a firm determination on the part of the 
Government to enforce the law of 1794, the building and 
equipping of ships, in Northern ports, went on almost 
openly. In May, 1800, a more stringent law was passed, 
and " vessels bearing commissions from the United 
States were empowered to make a prize of any ship 
found violating the law."* 

Yet little was done for more than half a century 
because domestic politics prevented the champions of 
abolition carrying out their humane plans, lest insistence 
might bring about disunion. When the time came, how- 
ever, the necessary steps were taken, and since 1865, 
whenever the opportunity has offered itself, the voice of 
the people of the United States has been clear and unmis- 
takable for the suppression of African slavery. Aside 
from this and the interest taken in the negro colony of 
Liberia there has been little in America's relations with 
Africa to call for comment. The feeling in the country 
about conditions in the Kongo has been rather the ex- 
pression of philanthropy, individual or associate, than 
official, for it could not well be the latter. That the 
United States is looked upon as being a World Power, 
in the sense that all questions of international impor- 

*McMasters, "History of the People of the United States." 



RELATIONS WITH AFRICA 263 

tance have an interest for her, is indicated by the sugges- 
tion that her voice be heard in the pending (September, 
191 1) dispute between France and Germany concerning 
Morocco. In the event of a settlement of that contro- 
versy without recourse to war, as seems most probable 
while this is being written, it may be possible that the 
United States will be invited to sign the agreement recog- 
nising France's absolute supremacy in Morocco — such 
a course has been suggested — but to do so would seem 
to be a departure from the recognised and wise policy 
of this country to refrain from taking any active part 
in matters wherein the rights of European Powers are 
paramount. 

The relations of the United States with Africa have 
been mainly in the way of Christian missions and edu- 
cation, and these are her only present duty. The devel- 
opment of commerce and the exploitation of industrial 
enterprise are the right of every man who chooses to 
interest himself in them. Such an investor has merely to 
overcome any foreign jealousy that may exist, and he 
may feel that his government will see to it that he is not 
unlawfully discriminated against in the matter of having 
a "fair chance." The fact that railway and mining 
machinery and supplies have been sent to Africa from 
America indicates that either the quality is superior or 
the price lower than Europe offers, and it is an induce- 
ment to others to try for a share of business that is only 
just in its beginning. We may note, however, that it 
is hardly satisfactory to home purchasers of American 
watches, and thousands of other articles as well, 
to be told that in South Africa he can buy these Ameri- 



264 AFRICA TO-DAY 

can products at less than he pays at home. But this is 
merely one of the beauties of a high protective tariff. 

Of the Coming Africa it is not so easy to speculate as it 
is to speak of China in the future, because in the former 
case we have to consider the problems that face the 
numerous European peoples who have annexed the land 
and must try to mould the natives so that they shall be 
able to adapt themselves to the new and strange civili- 
sation, whereas in the latter we contemplate the effort 
of an intelligent, already highly cultured people to change 
their condition and voluntarily transform their own civil- 
isation. In Africa there are grave dangers facing the 
intruders who have grabbed the whole continent, no 
matter how generously we judge their motives. One 
of these dangers has been suggested by the recent (Sep- 
tember, 191 1) episode which has bulked so largely in 
our journals for many weeks under the heading "The 
Morocco Question." In this, for some time, there seemed 
about to be confirmed the depressingly pessimistic fore- 
cast of an intelligent Chinese who declared that when 
there was not left another nook or corner of the earth for 
the peoples of Europe to grab they would fall to fighting 
among themselves, seeking to take from each other what 
had been seized from somebody else. But if in this par- 
ticular case, the cloud blows away without destructive 
effect it will largely be due to the fact that financiers have 
pronounced against war between Germany and France 
over such a small matter as the mastership of Morocco 
and the giving up of a slice of the Kongo region. 

Yet the matter brings up the r question whether or 
not there is danger of a recurrence of similar conditions 



RELATIONS WITH AFRICA 265 

in some other part of Africa. Will such episodes as 
Fashoda, Morocco, the greater Egyptian problem, and a 
host of petty ones (we are not thinking of troubles be- 
tween natives and European intruders) continue to be 
adjusted without recourse to "the 'arbitrament of war,' 
a specious phrase, for war settles nothing but military 
superiority, and that only for the time being?"* 

We must admit that the partition of Africa puts the 
continent into the hands of those who are, at present 
certainly, better able than the aborigines and natives to 
develop it and make it what it is well adapted to become 
again, as it was called three thousand years ago, the 
granary of the world, as well as the source of supply for 
food products incalculable in quantity and almost inex- 
pressible in variety, and of other materials, raw and 
finished, which shall contribute to the necessities, the 
comforts, the luxuries of life. But this development 
depends so much upon the ability and desire of the 
exploiters to live together in peace that disquieting 
apprehension will creep in when we contemplate the 
narrow escapes of the past and the danger of greater 
friction as these interests draw closer and closer together 
and competition becomes keener and keener. It is but 
the expression of personal opinion, yet not that of a 
single individual by any means, to say that the future 
of Africa is a brilliant possibility and one in which it 
should be the pride of many young men and young 
women emigrants from the homelands of Europe to take 
an active part. As the railways go creeping out into 

*See The Nineteenth Century, July, 191 1; article by Rear-Admiral 
Casper F. Goodrich, U.S.N. 



266 AFRICA TO-DAY 

the interior from the coast on the north, south, east, 
and west, opening up to the influence of civilisation great 
tracts of forest, broad stretches of fertile plain, deserts 
that modern science can, sometimes at any rate, trans- 
form into productive gardens, so must that same civili- 
sation seek to overcome its own many weaknesses and 
try to remember that Africa, too, is a part of God's good 
earth, whose peoples are His handiwork and each one of 
them entitled to live. 



CHAPTER XVI 

WHITE MAN'S AFRICA AND THE AFRICAN ISLANDS 

YES, it is probably to be the White Man's! It is 
strange how many legends of the natives tell of 
an original white progenitor. This is the account of 
creation that is given by one of the interesting peoples 
of southwestern Africa : ' There was once a wonderful 
tree called Omumborombongo. From it came forth all 
the living creatures, great and small, human and brute; 
but it grew in the time so long ago that there was not 
any light, all was darkness. Then a Damara lit a fire, 
and the brightness so frightened the zebras, gnus, giraffes, 
and all the great wild creatures that they fled away into 
the forest. But the oxen, sheep, dogs, and other domestic 
animals were not frightened, either when they saw the 
bright light that dazzled their eyes, or when they gazed, 
for the first time, upon the face of man, and they clustered 
fearlessly together about him; so these have ever since 
been man's friends. Later, when the white man came, 
all the creatures felt that he was their superior, and even 
the domestic animals were afraid of him, although these 
latter did not always run away." This is a very brief 
synopsis of one of the folk-lore tales of the Ova-Herero 
tribe; the people are still living in German South West 
Africa. 

It is suggestive to note how often, in these folk-lore 

267 



268 AFRICA TO-DAY 

tales of the black people of Africa, there is mentioned — 
always as belonging far back in the dim past — a white 
man from whom the people originally sprang; but they 
almost invariably add that they themselves, or their 
more recent ancestors, were turned black by the sun. To 
cite but one more, quite new instance Kin Central Africa 
there is an important nation, the Bushongo, who have 
been referred to by some explorers, who do not seem to 
have become very well acquainted with them, as Bakuba. 
They now live in a very extensive territory south of the 
Sankuru River, and between the Kasai and the upper 
Sankuru Rivers — 4 to 8° S., 20 to 24° E. in the Bel- 
gian Kongo. They are a most interesting, friendly, and, 
by comparison with all other black people of any part of 
the continent, the most cultured of the Africans. The 
particulars given here are epitomised from a long account 
read by the Danish-British explorer, Mr. E. Torday, 
before the Royal Geographical Society, London (see the 
Society's Journal for July, 1910). 

The name, Bakuba, employed by travellers who had 
not had the same opportunities for prolonged and close 
study of these people, that Mr. Torday gave them, is a 
Baluba word and appears to mean " People of the Light- 
ning. " It may be recognised as a transformation or 
paraphrase of Bushongo, meaning " People of the 
Throwing Knife." Now those Balubas were undoubt- 
edly in possession of the country before the Bushongos, 
who conquered the aborigines (the word is used merely 
for convenience and without pretence at scientific 
accuracy), because of their phenomenal prowess in 
using that remarkable weapon of attack. Their skill, 



WHITE MAN'S AFRICA 269 

displayed both in the swiftness of the throw and in the 
accuracy of aim, was not ineptly likened by the Balubas 
to the swift flash and deadly effect of the lightning, and 
therefore they dubbed these invincible people Bakuba. 
The Bushongo people are not strong in numbers, and 
ethnologically are opposed to certain Basongo Meno and 
Baluba tribes that have been incorporated into the 
Bushongo nation and have adopted Bushongo customs 
more or less completely. These Bushongo people "are 
remarkable for the manner in which they have preserved 
their tribal history, including a list of one hundred and 
twenty-one paramount chiefs." According to this his- 
tory, corroborated by many cultural details, they are 
immigrants from the north, probably from the Shari 
basin. The emigration took place under the fifth of 
their recorded rulers, and their empire reached its 
height under the ninety-third king, named Shamba, 
who is regarded as the great culture-hero of the tribe. 
1 This empire was ruled by means of a highly 
developed hierarchy of officials, more elaborate than 
has been recorded of any other African people, which 
was in full activity at the time of the first advent of the 
white man, though it is now showing signs of decay. 
Next to the possession of a history and an organised 
system of government this people is distinguished by a 
remarkable artistic sense which finds expression in the 
proficiency with which they pursue certain crafts, notably 
embroidery and wood-carving. This proficiency has 
been noted by other travellers, but the specimens pro- 
cured by the expedition surpass anything which has 
yet been obtained from savage Africa. In particular, 



270 AFRICA TO-DAY 

four portrait-statues of early chiefs, one dating from 
the beginning of the seventeenth century, may be 
mentioned." 

Mr. Torday was told that the founder of that royal 
dynasty was a white man, and this is most significant as 
well as suggestive. These people, who were but a short 
time ago the most civilised, cultured, and artistic people 
in Central Africa (we cannot quite subscribe to the 
wide inclusiveness of Mr. Torday's "any other African 
people"), claim that some hundreds of years ago — it 
cannot be so very many hundreds if there are only one 
hundred and twenty-one chiefs recorded who constituted 
one unbroken dynasty — there was a white ancestor 
behind them. How long the influence of that white 
strain was felt we have no means of knowing, but the 
evidences of recent decadence are unmistakable, and it 
raises the most interesting of problems. 

Assuming that the claim made by and for these 
people is correct, it is most unfortunate that the 
phrase " recorded rulers" is not more clearly defined; 
in other words, we should like to know precisely how 
those records were kept and who has been competent 
to read them now. If, in the sixteenth century of our 
era — less than four hundred years ago — a (black?) 
king known now as Shamba Bolongongo ruled a kingdom 
in Central Africa that had then reached the zenith of its 
high civilisation, when the people were " united among 
themselves, respected by their neighbours, governed by a 
wise king, controlled by a sort of parliament, composed 
of the representatives of the provinces, the arts, and 
trades; — a parliament in which the chief magistrates, 



WHITE MAN'S AFRICA 271 

the chief military and civil officers, women, and even 
the slave class, were represented," and has since relapsed, 
notwithstanding that conditions in Bushongoland are 
almost immeasurably superior to what exist in other 
parts of " Black" Africa, what a problem is offered to 
the champions of Christian civilisation! 

Is it possible for the Negro to work back from the 
absolutely low present conditions to a culture, claimed 
to be high, achieved without the stimulus of foreign 
influence hundreds of years ago, and at the same time 
mould that new phase of old culture to conform to stand- 
ards which must inevitably rule in Africa as, other 
conditions being equal, they do in Europe? Is the ten- 
dency to degeneration ineradicable? It is not unduly 
presumptuous to assert that, with many weaknesses 
and deplorable faults, the highest phases of culture and 
civilisation are now found in those people who belong 
to the lands where Christianity is the generally ac- 
cepted belief, no matter what the past may teach us of 
physical, mental, and spiritual development. 

If the African desires to take a place alongside the 
most highly cultured white people, he must work out 
his own salvation, assimilate that esoteric culture, or 
yield control to the white man. We take no special 
satisfaction in declaring that a careful study of the 
history and development of Africa, from north to south, 
from east to west, compels us to admit that evidences 
point relentlessly to a time in the not far-off Future 
when it is to be in every essential White Man's Africa. 
And yet we cannot believe that this means what such 
writers as the author of "The White Man's Burden" 



272 AFRICA TO-DAY 

suggests so selfishly, or that it implies a recurrence of 
recent conditions in Belgian Kongo, the earlier state 
of affairs in South Africa under Dutch reign, in the 
brutalising liquor traffic of Portuguese possessions and 
elsewhere, and other phases of miscalled European 
civilisation. 

Now, assuming that it is to be White Man's Africa, 
let us stop for a moment and, putting aside as much 
as possible all personal, ethical, and religious prejudice, 
frankly and honestly consider what that means, if even 
present conditions are maintained; that is to say, assum- 
ing that the political geography of Africa has now become 
established and the " scramble for Africa" is satisfied. 
Here is another quotation from Mr. Torday's paper: 
"The next village but one was inhabited by Badjok, and 
called Mayila, after the chief. This chief had come 
up from Angola to collect rubber and shoot elephants. 
Rubber and ivory he then sells to the Kasai Company. 
As soon as he has earned some money he returns to 
Portuguese territory, where natives can obtain liquor, 
and will spend his fortune in drink." 

Taken in connection with what was said in an earlier 
chapter, a part of which was devoted to a consideration 
of the import trade at Lourenco Marques, in Portuguese 
East Africa, and the heavy importation of low-grade 
European wines, mainly for the use of natives in 
British possessions, this presents for thoughtful con- 
sideration a phase of what may be one feature of White 
Man's Africa that is not conducive to very high culture. 
And there are altogether too many ports and European 
colonies all over Africa where the opportunity to obtain 




Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. 

A Typical African Jungle Trail 



WHITE MAN'S AFRICA 273 

European liquors is too easily granted and too willingly 
availed of by the weak natives; for rarely, if ever, is 
this liquor anything but the "low-grade," wretched 
stuff that is sold cheap and is highly charged with 
alcohol! The consensus of opinion in America and 
Europe is strongly opposed to cultivating among the 
natives of Africa, and of all parts of the world where 
the present state of civilisation is in any way compar- 
able, a taste for foreign liquor, and there have been 
regulations issued by some of the European governments 
now exercising protective rights over great areas of 
that continent prohibiting absolutely the sale of such 
liquor to natives; but without earnest and honest 
co-operation in enforcing such rules they are simply 
dead-letters. 

This seems to be another case wherein An Inter- 
national Police is very much wanted,* and unless some- 
thing of the kind is provided to compel all to follow 
the wish of the majority, not only will the degenera- 
tion of the natives rapidly go on towards physical and 
mental wreck and ultimate extinction, but the incentive 
to broils and outbreaks, which must cost those same 
" protectors" the lives of national police and soldiers, 
as well as much money, to suppress, will be greater 
directly as is the neglect to keep the poison out of 
natives' hands. 

We do not like to say much about conditions in the 
Belgian Kongo, for we cannot believe that the Belgian 
Government will not eventually live up to its promises 
when it declared it would improve the state of affairs 

* Rear-Admiral Goodrich, op. cit. 



274 AFRICA TO-DAY 

in its African protectorate. This was the declaration: 
"The question of improving the lot of the natives is 
not less a matter of solicitude in Belgium than it is in 
England. It is one of the loftiest preoccupations of our 
country, which is fully sensible of the importance of the 
civilising mission that falls to its lot in Africa." In 
the memorandum of April 25, 1908, of a draft for a 
colonial law to be enforced in the Belgian Kongo, it was 
declared that the principle of individual liberty is free 
from any further restriction whatsoever. "The Cabinet 
of Brussels intends to issue and give effect to the said 
measure for improving the lot of the natives as soon as 
ever the annexation of the Kongo and the Colonial law 
have been voted upon affirmatively by Parliament. It 
has promised the Chamber of Representatives to do so 
on more than one occasion; it has confirmed these prom- 
ises to the British Government in writing, and to-day 
it can only repeat its promise with the same earnestness 
as before." 

The Belgian Government substituted itself for the 
personal rule of King Leopold II in August, 1908, and 
yet now, three years after, conditions in the Belgian 
Kongo are not materially improved, if we consider them 
as a whole. In 19 10 the Belgian Budget Committee of 
the Chamber of Representatives passed a budget which 
provided that out of a total sum of £1,589,812, to be 
drawn from the Kongo, native labour in one form or 
another was to supply £839,900; raw rubber, £535,000; 
ivory, £18,000; copal, £11,200, taxes in kind; gold, 
£100,000, from mines worked by compulsory native 
labour for Government account; silver, £80,000, a tax in 



WHITE MAN'S AFRICA 275 

coin. Besides these it was reckoned that rubber, ivory, 
and copal to the value of £94,000 would be received as 
profits on shares in concessionaire companies, owned by 
King Leopold and transferred to the Government. 
"And this huge amount is to be wrung, four-fifths of it 
admittedly — the whole of it probably — by compulsion, 
out of a miserable population, exhausted, partially 
decimated, and racked (in many regions) by disease 
following seventeen years of infamous misrule."* 

Admitting, but (as Scotch juries sometimes declare) 
it is "not proven," that two years have brought some 
amelioration of conditions for the natives in the Belgian 
Kongo, the fact remains that for seventeen long years 
those miserable, unfortunate people, innocent of all 
crime deserving punishment, were subjected to a policy 
of organised pillage and to a form of slavery necessarily 
accompanied by hideous outrages, since the medium 
whereby it has been enforced consisted of a savage and 
often uncontrolled soldiery, feeding upon the country, 
frequently recruited by annual raids and so poorly paid 
that unrestricted license to gratify every lust has been the 
main incentive to loyalty. All this must make the most 
ignorant negro contemplate with more than anxiety the 
time when his country shall be in truth the White Man's 
Africa. 

We turn abruptly and without apology to the contem- 
plation in this chapter of another topic, and one which 
is as attractive as the last was, in some of its aspects, 

* "The Future of the Congo," E. D. Morel, on behalf of the Congo 
Association, to Lord Grey, His Britannic Majesty's Principal Secretary 
of State for Foreign Affairs, November, 1909. 



276 AFRICA TO-DAY 

repulsive in its recent history and ominous for the future. 
That is the African Islands. It is striking that both 
of the great continent peninsulas which project down 
towards the south from the broader northern parts of 
the two hemispheres should have so few islands along 
their coasts. At hardly any place is there anything 
approximating an archipelago or even a well-defined 
fringe or group of islands; and yet there are several 
islands that geographically are considered as belonging 
to Africa, and several of them have a history which is 
very interesting, with here and there a touch of romance 
that is attractive; as, for example, in the case of the 
Madeiras. 

Legend tells us that these were first discovered by an 
Englishman, but rediscovered by the Portuguese, and 
the romance is connected with one Robert Machin, 
who loved and was beloved by a lady whose father 
refused to accept Machin as a suitor because of his 
humble birth and poverty. To get Miss Ann D'Arfet 
away from her lover, the father sent her to a castle near 
the coast of Kent and for a time kept her in close con- 
finement. But the lady, acting strictly the part she 
and Robert had planned, affected to be very cheerful 
and happy in her banishment. So well did she play her 
part that both father and- duenna were deceived, and 
after a time Ann was permitted to leave the castle un- 
attended to walk along the cliff over what was supposed 
to be a deserted coast; and such it had been until, in 
response to a prearranged signal, Robert approached in 
a small vessel. Ann was taken on board, all sail was 
set, and the course laid for France; but suddenly a 



WHITE MAN'S AFRICA 277 

fierce gale from the north sprang up and the sloop was 
driven out to sea, southward, for fourteen days. Then 
they reached an island, and getting into the skiff landed 
and were the first Europeans to step upon one of the 
Madeira Islands. 

But another gale drove away the sloop, leaving the 
few on the island. The exposure, hunger, and anxiety 
were too much for the lady, who died, and five days 
later Machin, with his few comrades, took passage in 
something they seem to have been able to build. They 
shaped their course for the mainland, but misfortune 
still accompanied them and they reached the coast of 
Morocco, only to be captured by Moors and sold as 
slaves. This is the substance of the tale as given by a 
Portuguese writer; but other accounts, absolutely re- 
gardless of dates and chronology, continue the narra- 
tive by saying that Machin was ransomed by a Spaniard 
of Seville, one Juan de Morales, and entered his service 
as a naval officer. Morales transferred his allegiance 
to Portugal, under Prince Henry the Navigator, redis- 
covered the island and visited Ann's grave; there were 
then no inhabitants. The group of islands has been 
under different flags, the British for a time, but is now 
a possession of the historically original discoverers, and 
its fame as a health resort is its greatest asset. 

There are really but two islands that are large enough 
to support human life, and these are so salubrious in 
every way that, despite the considerable emigration to 
other parts of the world, they are declared to be over- 
crowded. These people are of most mixed descent, Por- 
tuguese and a good deal of Moorish and Negro blood 



278 AFRICA TO-DAY 

in the lower classes; their history has been considered 
sufficiently important to induce ethnologists to make 
careful research. Probably the name, Madeira, is asso- 
ciated in most people's mind with the wine that was 
justly famous for so many generations. The destruction 
wrought by phylloxera has not yet been entirely over- 
come, and conditions are now such that probably even 
"Old Madeira" will never again be so seductive as it 
was of yore. It is doubtful if the myth that the islands 
were known to the Phoenicians has any reasonable foun- 
dation in fact. 

The Canary, or Fortunate, Islands. There are seven 
inhabited islands; the largest, Teneriffe, is only eight 
hundred and seventy-seven square miles in area and 
the smallest, Hierro (or Ferro), but eighty-two square 
miles. Besides these inhabited islands there are a num- 
ber of islets, most of them without residents. Inasmuch 
as Lanzarote, the most easterly of the group, is only 
some fifty miles from the African coast, it is quite rea- 
sonable to admit that these islands were known to the 
earliest Phoenician navigators who ventured beyond the 
Pillars of Hercules. But their history dates from the 
year 141 7 only, when they were discovered by one Jean 
de Bethencourt, a Frenchman, but then in the service 
of Castile. During the war between Spain (Ferdinand 
of Castile) and Portugal (Alfonso V) each country laid 
claim to the possessions of the other, but the Peace 
of Alcobaco, in 1479, confirmed Spain's right to the 
Canaries, and they have ever since belonged to her. 
Lying right in the track of all vessels bound down the 
coast of Africa, these islands will always be an important 



WHITE MAN'S AFRICA 279 

centre for navigators, and most of the submarine tele- 
graph cables between Europe and the West Coast are 
landed here, either for relay or as a matter of convenience. 
The Hakluyt Society has recently set its mark of 
approval upon the archaeology of these islands by re- 
printing, with English translation, the earliest account 
of the most ancient inhabitants, the Guanches, of whose 
origin nothing positive is known. That they came from 
the neighbouring mainland is too simple a statement to 
satisfy ethnologists; but if this is the fact, the entire 
absence of Mahommedan custom and ritual, when the 
islands were first visited by modern Europeans, indicates 
that the Guanche emigration took place in the very 
early years of Hejira, and probably before 622 a.d. The 
custom of embalming the dead seems to form a connect- 
ing link between these Guanches and the Egyptians; 
but this is merely sportive ethnology. The great Canaria 
dogs, from which the name of the islands is alleged to 
have been derived, have long since disappeared. The 
Peak of Tenerifle, Pico de Teyde, which rises almost 
sheer from the sea to a height of twelve thousand two 
hundred feet, is one of the most remarkable mountains 
in the world, and every person who has looked almost 
straight up to its summit from the deck of a passing 
steamer is impressed by its appearance and inevitably 
possessed with the horrible thought of what would 
happen should the almost perpendicular mass topple 
over. But visitors who land and make the ascent of 
the mountain are rewarded by cloud effects that are 
almost unique and by a sea view (when they are 
so fortunate as to catch a clear day) which is inde- 



280 AFRICA TO-DAY 

scribable. The climate of the Canaries is not such as to 
tempt visitors to make a lengthy sojourn. The vines 
on these islands, too, have suffered from the grape disease 
almost as much as those of Madeira. 

The Cape Verd Islands are but a very short distance, 
comparatively, from the extreme western point of Africa, 
and since their discovery in 1441 have been a Portu- 
guese colony. They are unusually well administered. 
The Roman Catholic clergy give considerable attention 
to the education of the poorer children, but those of the 
wealthier classes are all sent to Lisbon for their edu- 
cation. The climate is not good; the Earmattan, 
mentioned in Chapter X, Western Africa, blows from 
the continent at times and it is very trying. Cattle 
raising is the principal industry. The flora is remark- 
able, but doubtless a good many plants which now seem 
to grow wild were originally exotics brought from the 
mainland. 

St. Helena, discovered and settled by the Portuguese 
in 1 501, on the festival of the Empress Helena, mother 
of Emperor Constantine, was later deserted by the 
discoverers and lay waste and almost uninhabited until 
the Dutch found it to be a convenient stopping-place 
for their ships going to and returning from the Far East. 
Then the Dutch East India Company took possession 
and resettled the island, but gave it up for the Cape 
of Good Hope. Later the English East India Company 
occupied it and fought with the Dutch for its possession, 
eventually maintaining their supremacy. St. Helena is 
so absolutely associated in our minds with Napoleon I, 
and therefore is so well known to most readers, that 



WHITE MAN'S AFRICA 281 

further comment here seems superfluous. But those 
who wish to read a full description of the island and its 
history are referred to the extensive library on these 
subjects. 

Ascension and St. Matthew can hardly detain us long. 
They are really nothing more than peaks of a great 
submarine range of mountains which mark the division 
between the northern and southern basins of the Atlantic. 
Ascension has been brought to some use as a "market 
garden," and among old-time navigators it was called 
"The Post Office," because ships passing, outward bound, 
would sometimes leave letters in a crevice of the rocks, 
to be passed on by the next comers going in the right 
direction. Besides these, there are a few other small 
islands in the Atlantic Ocean that geographically pertain 
to Africa, but not any of them have sufficient historic 
or popular interest to call for mention. 

After rounding the Cape of Good Hope and entering 
the Indian Ocean, we presently come to what may be 
called the only "group" of African islands attaining 
proportions of real magnitude: Madagascar, Reunion 
(Bourbon), Mauritius (He de France), and northeast 
of the first-named the islets that culminate in the Sey- 
chelles, and off Cape Guardafui, the extreme eastern 
point of Africa, in Italian Somaliland, the island of 
Sokotra. 

Madagascar is one of the largest islands in the world. 
The French claim to have been the first to discover the 
island, but this is very naturally disputed by the Por- 
tuguese, whose date, 1506, is now generally accepted. 
We know that Arab merchants were dealing with the 



282 AFRICA TO-DAY 

inhabitants over a thousand years ago. While the 
geology of Madagascar has been but imperfectly investi- 
gated, and the fauna and flora not yet exhaustively 
studied, we are certain that a full narrative of its known 
plant life would more than till a volume the size of this, 
and there are yet, in all probability, unidentified and 
unnamed species, awaiting the earnest student; for in a 
strange way the flora of Asia and Africa are blended 
here. The conformation of the island, having a high 
interior plateau, is naturally the cause of great variety 
in climate; the highlands being in every way suited 
to Europeans. 

"While the people are not civilised in the European 
sense, they are not a savage race, and some of the tribes 
are hardly to be classed among barbarous peoples. 
They have never, for instance, fallen into the cannibal 
practices of many allied races in Polynesia, and the 
tribal instincts are strong among all sections of the 
population. They are law-obeying and loyal, living in 
settled communities, in villages which are often fortified 
with considerable skill, with a government of chiefs and 
elders, a development of a primitive patriarchal sys- 
tem." Yet, at the same time, these people are very 
immoral and untruthful, disregardful of human life, and 
cruel in war. This native society offers a field for most 
interesting ethnological research. Madagascar is now 
an important French colony. 

Reunion, formerly Isle de Bourbon, was one of France's 
most important overseas possessions, but may be said 
to have yielded precedence to the protectorates of 
Central Africa and the Far Eastern colonies in Indo- 



WHITE MAN'S AFRICA 283 

China. The geological connection, through Mauritius 
and curving round through the Seychelles, with Mada- 
gascar, is most interesting. The active volcano, Piton 
des Neiges (10,069 feet), presents a very curious freak of 
nature in its conformation. "The traveller approaching 
the present craters from the west has consequently 
to descend upwards of one thousand feet by two abrupt 
stages (into a bowl) before he begins the ascent of the 
cones." 

The mountainous character of Mauritius makes it 
a most picturesque spot and its scenery is varied and 
beautiful. The highest peak, Montagne de la Riviere 
Noire, is twenty-seven hundred and eleven feet in alti- 
tude. The climate is agreeable during their winter, 
May to November, but oppressively hot in summer, 
December to April, when there are frequent hurricanes, 
the typhoons of farther eastern seas. Although Mauritius 
is now a British crown colony, having been captured in 
1 8 10 and confirmed to Great Britain upon the restora- 
tion of peace in 18 14, it has largely retained the old 
French laws and rules of legal procedure. It is an 
attractive place in many ways, and were it on one of 
the comfortable lanes of travel, without the necessity 
of crossing the equator to reach it, it would undoubt- 
edly be included in the itinerary of many tourists. The 
dependencies of Mauritius are the Seychelles group, the 
islands of Rodriguez and Diego Garcia, the Chagos 
group, and seventy other smaller islands scattered 
widely through the Indian Ocean. Sugar, as is well 
known, is the principal product of both Reunion and 
Mauritius. 



284 AFRICA TO-DAY 

The Seychelles belong to Great Britain and are 
practically the only archipelago that can be said to be 
in any way connected with Africa. There are eighty 
small islands, some of them nothing more than rocks, and 
they are usually surrounded by coral reefs. The valleys 
and hill slopes are fertile and covered with most luxu- 
riant vegetation. The sea-breeze tempers the heat, so 
that the archipelago is by no means uninhabitable for 
white people, were there any inducement to live there; 
but since manioc is the chief product and turtle flesh 
figures largely in the exports, it may be imagined that 
there is not much to attract Europeans. Without pre- 
tending to have enumerated all the African islands, we 
shall close this sketch with a few words about Sokotra, 
a distant glimpse of which is sometimes had from the 
deck of steamers passing to and fro between the Red 
Sea and Aden, Southern Arabia; and it is the first 
of Africa which the American globe-trotter, travelling 
westward round the world, can possibly see. When it 
is possible to get a near view the scenery is found to be 
very striking, with bare rocky heights and fertile valleys. 
There is little cultivation, the inhabitants depending 
almost entirely upon their flocks of sheep and goats, 
or on dates, either grown at home or imported. The 
people have a good reputation for hospitality and de- 
portment. In 1886 the island was formally ceded to Great 
Britain. The flora and fauna are peculiar; Sokotran 
aloes is esteemed the best in the world. In former times 
the ambergris obtained here was justly famous. 



CHAPTER XVII 

" CAPE TO CAIRO" 

THERE is always something distinctly attractive 
about an effective alliteration. Doubtless it is 
because there survives in each one of us a trace, if nothing 
more, of the fondness of our remote British ancestors 
for this primitive form of English poetry; and the 
phrase "Cape to Cairo Railway" possesses at least 
two, if not more, attractions for both eye and ear. First, 
there is the pleasant alliteration in the words themselves ; 
and second, it compels our admiration for the stupendous 
physical and professional undertaking which the con- 
struction of the links in that long line and the tying 
together of those parts into a complete system indicate. 
Yet, after all, we had rapidly come to expect that in 
Africa would be rounded out and completed the great 
task of providing, with the most modern practical means 
at our command, for the rapid and, all things duly con- 
sidered, regular traversing of the second in size of the 
continents, from its southern extremity, at comparatively 
recent Cape Town, to its northern- limit at Alexandria, 
making of Cairo but an important "way station." 
This latter city, which is relatively new when we think 
in terms of Egyptian chronology, for Alexandria was 
already twelve hundred years old when the "new" city 
of Cairo was begun, will hardly satisfy the demands of 

285 



286 AFRICA TO-BAY 

present-day travellers who are altogether too parsimo- 
nious of time and too sybaritic about personal comfort 
to consent to anything but direct connection between 
railway train and steamer at the ship's side. In all 
probability, then, Alexandria will be the northern ter- 
minus of the great north and south African trunk line, 
and the link between Cairo and Alexandria has been in 
operation for many years. 

The completion of the first great transcontinental 
railway in the United States, the Union and Central 
Pacific, actually preceded the fastening together of the 
links of independent and international lines in Europe 
which permitted of the precise use of the term " trans- 
continental" as applied to trains on that continent. 
Still, it was not long after 1869, in which year, it will 
be remembered, through service from the Atlantic 
to the Pacific was given in the United States, until it 
became possible to go by train from any one of several 
European ports on the Atlantic coast to Constantinople 
in the southeast, where one looks across the narrow 
Bosphorus right into Asia, or to Cheliabinsk, on the 
frontier between Russia in Europe and Siberia; and 
then transcontinental railways in Europe were an 
accomplished fact. 

To our American mind that fact as accomplished, 
however, may not be entirely satisfactory; since, with 
the exception of the Oriental express trains which go 
all the way from Paris to Constantinople without the 
necessity of passengers changing cars, the journey can- 
not be performed without break by the ordinary traveller, 
whose purse compels consideration of expense or whose 



<< „ A t*-^ rr, ^ ^at^^>> 



CAPE TO CAIRO 287 

ideas of the proper use of money forbids yielding to the 
luxury and extravagance (both actual and incidental) 
of the Oriental trains de luxe; because not only is the 
price of the ticket very high, but the expenses for sleep- 
ing-car accommodation, meals, and the innumerable 
"tips" run away with a goodly sum of money. 

If the traveller intends to cross Europe and Asia by 
the trans-Siberian line, a change at the Russian frontier 
— to say nothing of others when once within Russian 
territory — is a necessity that is more radical than that 
which we make at either Chicago or St. Louis. The 
extreme caution displayed by the Russian Government 
to prevent (if possible) all improper crossing of the 
frontier either by passenger or luggage is one of the rea- 
sons, probably the principal one, for the change of gauge 
and the consequent inconvenience to which travellers are 
subjected. Our change at any one of the several points 
where connection is made between Atlantic and Pacific 
systems is not imperatively necessary, and many trains, 
or at any rate a large number of private cars, have been 
taken through from coast to coast without the occupants 
making any change at all. For many years the through 
trains of the Canadian Pacific Railway, between Mon- 
treal and Vancouver without change for passengers of 
all classes, have daily made what is virtually a complete 
transcontinental journey. 

Then, with the completion of the trans-Siberian line, 
came the railway's conquest of the greatest of all the 
continents, Asia. Now we are looking for the time, in 
what is confidently expressed as the "near future," 
when the suppression of international jealousies about 



288 AFRICA TO-DAY 

" spheres of influence/' concessions, supplying materials, 
rights of construction, equipment, maintenance, and 
operation shall permit of the building of needed divi- 
sions and the tying together of the existing links of a 
system of railways across Turkey in Asia, Persia, one 
or the other of the small buffer states, Baluchistan or 
Afghanistan, until connection is made with the British- 
Indian system of railways, and then across Farther 
India, Burma, and Siam, into French Indo-China, on to 
China itself, so that Canton and Hongkong shall be 
accessible from Europe by rail across the southern 
part of Asia. This is already more than a mere dream 
of enthusiastic engineers; and it may very well be that 
there are children living to-day who, soon after they 
shall have attained majority in age, will enter a com- 
partment carriage at, let us say, Calais or Cherbourg 
or Havre and leave it ten days or a fortnight later at 
Kowloon, opposite Hongkong! 

Already the thought of railways that shall permit of 
a virtually continuous journey by train from far north 
in Canada, across the United States, down through 
Mexico and the Central American States, to the south- 
ern end of Chili, along the western slope of the Andes, 
is something so near accomplishment as to excite but 
little of the amazement which, a score or two of years 
ago, would have been caused by the mere suggestion 
of such an audacious enterprise. The contemplation 
of this possibility — nay, we venture to say reasonable 
probability — carries with it almost of necessity, cer- 
tainly as a perfectly logical consequence, the thought 
of traversing all the South American countries with 



<<_.-,_ m ^ ~ . _ — ~ 9 9 



CAPE TO CAIRO" 289 

intercommunicating railways, which shall be connected 
at the Isthmus of Panama with the Central American 
trunk line, and by this with the whole of the American 
and Canadian systems. While, at the other end of this 
tremendous system, there appears the probable exten- 
sion of railways through the Dominion of Canada to 
Alaska, and by ferry across Behring Straits until connec- 
tion is made on the Kamschatkan coast with Russian 
railways extended from the Siberian trunk line into the 
extreme eastern part of Russian territory. 

It may not be generally known that this project — 
even if it does seem almost a mad one — was seriously 
considered within the past ten years; that the engineer- 
ing problems, stupendous as they appear to the unini- 
tiated layman, were confidently discounted by expert 
engineers and the capital for the whole tremendous 
enterprise secured. It was shelved by the French pro- 
moters merely because it was decided to be a little 
premature and of some difficulty in securing American, 
British, and Russian concessions and co-operation. 
But it may come up again in the course of a short 
time and be carried to engineering and economic suc- 
cess. Then shall we be able to speak of quite a new 
phase of " circling the globe!" The only seemingly 
insuperable obstacle to a through train from New York, 
via all the way round the globe, back to New York, 
will remain in the Northern Atlantic. This little diver- 
gence into the realm of fancy, as we think of these 
possible continental and world-inclusive railway systems, 
leads to a bit of trifling pleasantry — how fearfully 
magnified and complicated will become the duties of 



29O AFRICA TO-DAY 

the " lost-car tracer!" Truly, we must not yet say 
that the age of miracles has passed. 

But not one of the transcontinental lines which have 
already become accomplished facts presented such a 
combination of difficulties as those which faced the 
late Cecil Rhodes when he first moved in the matter of 
the Cape to Cairo Railway. Not only were the physical 
obstacles hard to overcome, although these may be 
matched by similar conditions elsewhere, but there were 
problems in politics, sociology, and meteorology to be 
solved. The plan for traversing the great continent 
from south to north is no longer something which sug- 
gests the use of the word " miracle." It is something 
exceedingly practical, even if there yet stand in the 
way of its completion difficulties which would have 
baffled constructive and operating engineers but a very 
few years ago. In building the numerous sections which 
must be welded together, the several nations exercising 
rights that accrue from possession and " spheres of 
influence" are displaying a willingness to co-operate 
which augurs well. If the route that Rhodes approved 
of is followed, the actual financial burden in constructing 
the main trunk line will fall upon but two European 
countries, Great Britain and Germany; because the 
route crosses the South Africa Union, Rhodesia, skirts 
the extreme western part of German East Africa, re- 
enters British territory at Uganda in the British East 
African State, and on leaving that enters the valley 
of the White Nile and continues within the sphere of 
British influence until it meets the " Nile Valley Railway " 
at Khartum. 




Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. 

Victoria Falls, Zambesi River 



"CAPE TO CAIRO" 291 

It is more than interesting, it is positively pathetic 
at times, to note how soon after leaving Cape Town 
the railway enters the lands which were traversed by 
the great Livingstone. Through Cape Colony, Orange 
River Colony, into the Transvaal, the two lines are 
almost parallel. In Matabeleland the railway diverges 
to the eastward from Livingstone's trail, but crosses 
it again some distance below the Victoria Falls of the 
Zambesi River. Livingstone, as we know, went down 
the valley of the Zambesi to its mouth. Afterwards he 
struck back towards the north to Lake Nyasa and 
diverged to the northwestward through what is now 
Rhodesia. It is not pretended that this is an accurate 
chronological account of Livingstone's explorations; it 
is merely a rough statement of some of his work which 
connects with it the task now in hand. In the northern 
part of this Rhodesia territory the proposed Cape to 
Cairo Railway again crosses Livingstone's trail, south 
of Lake Tanganyika; it then inclines a little towards the 
east at Ujiji, on the east shore of the lake and about 
the middle thereof, and rounds the northwest corner 
of Lake Victoria Nyanza. Here it goes towards the 
east of north through the Koromori Mountains and 
Juba Hills in order to get down gradually to the White 
Nile Valley. 

In tracing thus roughly the proposed route of the 
railway, it is not alone Livingstone who is constantly 
brought to mind, but the journeys of other famous 
African explorers are recalled : Serpa Pinto, who crossed 
the lower end of Africa in 1877-79; Glave, who in 
1893-95 went from the mouth of the Zambesi around 



292 AFRICA TO-DAY 

Lake Nyasa along the Loangwa River to Chitambo's 
(where Livingstone died in 1873) near Lake Bangweolo, 
and eventually down the Kongo to its mouth on the 
west coast. Further on, after leaving Rhodesia, in 
German East Africa, the line comes in touch with 
Stanley, Speke and Grant, and Baker. All of these 
are names with which to conjure when we are dealing 
with the great Dark Continent, and to whose records 
the surveyors and constructing engineers of the Cape 
to Cairo Railway are admittedly greatly indebted for 
the success of what they have done, and to whom 
they must continue to be beholden. If there were any 
doubt in the mind of readers as to the Herculean nature 
of the task which has been undertaken by those civil 
engineers, it will be instantly dispelled by reading the 
records of those pioneers and explorers and the accounts 
that all of them give of trackless tropical forests which 
are not yet so opened as shall materially reduce the 
labour of surveying and then building a railway. 

Since the word "Cape" is given precedence in the title 
bestowed on this proposed railway, which is rapidly 
progressing towards the point of accomplishment, it 
seems quite proper to begin at Cape Town in hastily 
considering the line and its probable bearing upon the 
permanent development of the whole continent. This 
last expression is chosen deliberately because it is be- 
lieved that when the direct connections with other rail- 
ways that shall act as feeders and the transverse lines 
with which it will exchange business are considered later, 
it must be made manifest that the Cape to Cairo Railway 
is to exert a tremendous influence for good on the whole 



"CAPE TO CAIRO" 293 

of Africa. Already the line has been extended so far 
beyond Bulawayo, in Matabeleland of British South 
Africa, that passengers can readily go to any part of 
Rhodesia, and the construction reaches so near the 
southern end of Lake Tanganyika that already one-third 
of the lower part is now operated. With the Nile Valley 
Railway included, fully two-thirds of the Cape to Cairo 
is completed. While the construction work on this com- 
pleted southern one-third has not been an easy matter at 
all, the difficulties are not to be compared with those 
which face the constructors through the central one-third. 
Some idea of what must be undertaken by the engi- 
neers who are to build a railway along the eastern shore 
of Lake Tanganyika, and — better yet for the general 
reader — some hint as to the scenery which is to greet 
the traveller, may be had from a brief description of this 
lake. It is the longest known body of fresh water in the 
world, being four hundred and twenty miles long, or 
one hundred miles longer than our own Lake Michigan 
(three hundred and twenty miles), and seventy miles 
longer than Lake Superior; but inasmuch as its breadth 
ranges only from ten to fifty miles, its area, twelve 
thousand six hundred and fifty square miles, is much 
less than those American lakes. Its altitude may be 
taken as about twenty-seven hundred feet above sea 
level, and while its depth has not yet been actually 
determined, it is said (Hore) that a one hundred and 
sixty-eight fathom line often failed to reach the bottom. 
It is, indeed, an enormous crevasse, bordered on all sides 
by hills and mountains, some of which rise from five 
to ten thousand feet above its surface. 



294 AFRICA TO-DAY 

Burton, quoted in Encyclopaedia Britannica, from 
which authority some of the above-given information has 
been taken, described Tanganyika thus: "It tilled us 
with admiration, with wonder and delight. Beyond the 
short foreground of rugged and precipitous hill-fold, down 
which the footpath painfully zigzags, a narrow plot of 
emerald green shelves gently towards a ribbon of glisten- 
ing yellow sand, here bordered by sedgy rushes, there, 
clear and cleanly cut by the breaking wavelets. Farther 
in front stretches an expanse of the lightest, softest 
blue, from thirty to thirty-five miles in breadth, and 
sprinkled by the east wind with crescents of snowy foam. 
It is bounded on the other side by tall and broken walls 
of purple hill, flecked and capped with pearly mist, or 
standing sharply pencilled against the azure sky. To 
the south lie high bluff headlands and capes; and as 
the eye dilates it falls on little outlying islets, speckling 
a sea horizon. Villages, cultivated lands, and frequent 
canoes of the fishermen give a something of life, of 
variety, of movement to the scenery." 

Hore, another of the careful and accurate African 
explorers, who visited the lake in 1880, says: "I have 
never witnessed such wondrous cloud-scenery and majes- 
tic effects of thunder and lightning as on Tanganyika." 
The lake was for a long time one of the many African 
puzzles. The general conformation of the country not 
unnaturally led the first European visitors to assume that 
it emptied northward and was a part of the great Nile 
water system. Others argued that it must have an outlet 
to the south and contribute to the Zambesi basin. But 
eventually it was determined conclusively that what- 



"CAPE TO CAIRO" 295 

ever water leaves it goes from about the middle of its 
western shore and reaches the Kongo River. Yet this 
outflow is not constant, being dependent upon the rain- 
fall and the consequent rise of the lake's surface. At 
times there is actually no flow at all from Tanganyika. 

From Ujiji on Tanganyika, where the proposed railway 
is to leave that lake, to the approximate point where it 
is to strike Lake Victoria Nyanza is a distance, as the 
crow flies, of about four hundred miles. Yet when we 
remember that the former is twenty-seven hundred feet 
above sea-level, while the latter is somewhere about four 
thousand feet, and that the intervening distance forms 
the watershed between the Nile and the Kongo basins, 
it need not be said that those four hundred miles pre- 
sent some very pretty problems for engineers in sur- 
veying the line and for contractors in building it. It 
is probable that the traveller by train on the Cape to 
Cairo Railway will mark a distinct difference in the 
scenery along the shores of these two great bodies of 
water, Tanganyika and Victoria Nyanza. Both will be 
declared rugged and grand, but the latter will be re- 
marked for the richest examples of tropical vegetation 
to be seen anywhere. The many islands along the coast 
are said to be clothed with forests and fringed along the 
shore with papyrus or low jungle. Its surface is quite 
twice that of Tanganyika, although it is some two hun- 
dred miles less in length; its average breadth is two 
hundred and twenty miles. 

It is a remarkable thing in African physical geography 
that three such great lakes as Victoria Nyanza, Tangan- 
yika, and Nyasa (over three hundred and fifty miles 



296 AFRICA TO-DAY 

long), less than fifteen degrees of latitude from the 
northern end of the first to the southern end of the third, 
and five degrees of longitude sufficing to include them 
all, east and west, should be so absolutely independent 
of one another as they are. It was a most natural mis- 
take for early explorers to assume that they were con- 
nected, and this goes a good way towards explaining the 
persistency of the statement that the sources of the Nile 
were "somewhere between ten degrees north and twenty 
degrees south latitude." Yet these three large bodies of 
water send their overflow in three directions until they 
reach the ocean at points separated from one another 
by thousands of miles of seacoast. Victoria Nyanza is 
the life of the Nile, a tributary of the Mediterranean; 
Tanganyika contributes to the Kongo and by that river 
to the south Atlantic; Nyasa sends a stream to the Zam- 
besi River, and thus its waters reach the Indian Ocean. 
But a small patch of paper will cover all three on a map 
of fairly good scale, and although we cannot exactly 
say that the third, Nyasa, is on the route of the Cape to 
Cairo Railway, it is but a comparatively short distance 
from the main line and is sure to be included in the 
itinerary of the traveller who uses that railway for the 
purpose of enlarging his knowledge of this little world 
by personal observation, or the tourist who must see 
all there is to be seen, or the commercial man who 
follows his ever-expanding business into the remotest 
corners of the earth. 

Already there are built connecting lines with the main 
trunk line of the Cape to Cairo. From Lourenco Mar- 
ques, the capital of the Portuguese State of East Africa, 



"CAPE TO CAIRO" 297 

a line is in operation to Pretoria, and this city is to be 
connected with the main line. In German South West 
Africa a short line is open from Walfish Bay (British) 
to Windhoek, and this is to be pushed on to the frontier 
at Rietfontein and through Bechuanaland to the trunk 
line. Another line has been constructed across German 
East Africa from Zanzibar, on the coast, to Ujiji on Lake 
Tanganyika. Yet another line was completed while 
writing this, and there is now furnished means of rapid 
communication between Mombasa, on the southeastern 
coast of British East Africa, and the northern end of 
Lake Victoria Nyanza, much needed strategically and 
industrially. Whether or not the line which has been 
talked of from the Cape to Cairo at Khartum through 
Abyssinia to a port of French Somaliland, and possibly 
to the British Somali Coast Protectorate, is to be car- 
ried into execution with reasonable speed is a question 
that this writer confesses he has no right to answer; but 
it probably will be done. Then, although it is some- 
what outside the purview of this chapter, there is the 
great east and west trunk line across Northern Africa 
which, so it is said, German promoters intend to build 
from Alexandria to Morocco. The fact that it would 
connect with the Cape to Cairo Railway is the reason 
for mentioning it here; but, as an economic factor, it 
has already been discussed in an earlier chapter. 

The pushing forward from Cape Colony of this Cape 
to Cairo line has given the most remarkable activity to 
development throughout the whole of the British South 
African colonies, and it cannot but have had an influence 
in achieving the Union. Already territory is opened that 



298 AFRICA TO-DAY 

is rich in many things — grain, fruits, live stock, minerals 
are but a few of these — and passengers are now " booked" 
from Cape Town for some two thousand miles, or about 
one-third the total distance which separates the Cape 
of Good Hope from the Mediterranean at Alexandria. 
The equipment is a sort of compromise between the very 
exclusive old-time English railway " carriage " and the 
thoroughly open, democratic " coach" of our American 
railroads; that is to say, the "guard," who is the Ameri- 
can "conductor," has access to all parts of the trains that 
run any considerable distance, and that too without im- 
perilling his life by creeping along the "running-board." 
Usually there is a narrow corridor, well-lighted, along 
one side of the car, with a lobby at each end, onto 
which open the lavatories and through which a person 
can pass by doors into the next car. From this corridor 
open the compartments, with two broad seats across the 
car and intended to accommodate three or four persons 
each; of course one set must sit "back to the engine." 
When it is a through train sometimes these seats are 
convertible into beds, the backs lifting up and held 
firmly and rigidly in place by strong springs which come 
out from the woodwork. There are thus four "athwart- 
ship" berths, and if it be a first-class or second-class 
carriage, there is an attendant who supplies, for a reason- 
able fee, the necessary sheets, blankets, and pillows. 
Third-class passengers (and, as in the British Isles, these 
are by far the most numerous) have to provide for them- 
selves. The Pullman sleeping-car, with longitudinal 
("fore and aft") berths may be found on some trains, 
but we have not heard of them. 



"C APE TO CAIRO " 299 

In the plainer carriages for third-class passengers, 
especially when on a long run, there is an aisle through 
the middle of the car, with seats arranged on both sides 
in much the same way as our own; but these are not 
upholstered, yet they are said to be very comfortable. 

Ample provision is made for getting food, because 
dining-cars (often called " restaurant cars") are attached 
to all trains making a long run, and these are graded 
so that the purses of all classes of passengers are con- 
sidered. Those who have been fortunate enough to 
travel by the "Cape to Cairo" trains in the South 
African Union speak well of the dining-car service 
both as to the character of the food supplied and the 
reasonable charge for meals; while the scale of "tips" 
would probably cause the waiters in the American 
dining-cars to ignore calmly the proffered "thruppence" 
or accept scornfully the extravagant shilling. There are, 
too, excellent restaurants in the large stations where, at 
convenient times during the day, a stop is made of suffi- 
cient duration to enable the passengers to eat a meal in 
comfort. 

There is one phase of this South African railway 
travelling which should be carefully noted by strangers, 
and that is the extraordinary variation between the 
maximum temperature during the afternoon, from 
noon until three o'clock, and the minimum from mid- 
night until daybreak, both winter and summer. The 
heat is often stifling and the glare most trying when 
the sun is high, but as soon as the sun sets the tem- 
perature begins to drop and the passenger who has 
sweltered and gasped during the afternoon now finds 



300 AFRICA TO-DAY 

himself shivering with cold. The reason for this is that 
the radiation from the veld is phenomenally rapid, but 
the traveller should accept the fact and provide him- 
self with two sets of clothing: one diaphanous, as for 
the equator; the other warm and heavy, as for a polar 
expedition. 

If we leave Africa with this paragraph relating to 
railway travel, it seems to be reasonably appropriate. 
The linking together of the various sections of the land 
with these exponents of modern civilisation is probably 
as indicative of what this great continent is to be as 
anything which could be chosen; and that there is a 
great future in store for Africa cannot be questioned. 
To-day is a period of transition for most of the conti- 
nent; in but a comparatively small part can we truly 
say that conditions are permanently established, and 
just what the political, social, and industrial conditions 
in other parts are to be depends entirely upon the 
measure of wisdom or indiscretion displayed by the 
governments of those European nations that are now 
exercising Protectorate rights over virtually the whole 
land. The Coming Africa will have to be reckoned 
with seriously, but it will not be the native African 
who measures the terms of that reckoning. It seems 
sad to think that, in the whole of the second continent 
in size, there is scarcely an acre left to the exclusive 
control of the aborigines. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

A List of Books and references to other sources of information 
which may be useful 

Journal of the Royal Geographical Society. London. 

The English Quarterlies and other magazines: for example, in 

the Contemporary Review for December, 1911, The Resources 

of Tripoli. J. W. Gregory. 
Tunisia. H. Vivian, 1899. 
British Africa (The British Empire Series), 1899. 
Story of Africa and its Explorers. Robert Brown, 1892. 
Under the African Sun : a Description of Native Races in Uganda, 

Sporting Adventures and Other Experiences. W. J. Ansorge, 

1899. 
The Future of Africa: being Addresses, Sermons, etc., delivered 

in the Republic of Liberia. Rev. Alexander Crummell, 

1862. 
The Land of the White Helmet : Lights and Shadows across Africa. 

Edgar Allen Forbes, 1910. 
The Gateway to the Sahara: Observations and Experiences in 

Tripoli. Charles Wellington Furlong, 1909. 
An Ivory Trader in North Kenia: the Record of an Expedition 

through Kikuyu to Galla-Land in East Equatorial Africa. 

With an Account of the Rendili and Burkeneji Tribes. A. 

Arkell-Hardwich, 1903. 
Across Widest Africa: an Account of the Country and People of 

Eastern, Central, and Western Africa, as seen during a 

Twelve Months' Journey from Djibuti to Cape Verde. 

2 vols. A. Henry Savage Landor, 1907. 
Narrative of Discovery and Adventure in Africa from the Earliest 

Ages to the Present Time: with Illustrations of the Geology, 

Mineralogy, and Zoology. Prof. Jameson, James Wilson, 

Hugh Murray, 1830; reprinted 1840. 
Boat Life in Egypt and Nubia. William C. Prime, 1874. 

301 



302 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Our Houseboat on the Nile. Lee Bacon, 1902. 
Court Life in Egypt. Alfred J. Butter, 1887. 
An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians. 

2 vols. Edward William Lane, 1836, 1871. 
Egypt as It Is. J. C. McCoan, 1877. 
Oriental Cairo, the City of the " Arabian Nights." Douglas Sladen, 

1911. 
Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile. John Hanning 

Speke, 1864. 
Egypt in 1898. G. W. Steevens, 1898. 
Below the Cataracts. Walter Tyndale, 1907. 
Along the Nile with General Grant. Elbert E. Farman, 1904. 
Today on the Nile. Harry Westbrook Dunning, 1907. 
The Redemption of Africa. Frederic Perry Noble, 1899. 
Africa in the Nineteenth Century. Edgar Sanderson, 1898. 
Actual Africa or the Coming Continent: A Tour of Exploration. 

Frank Vincent, 1895. 
The Life and Travels of Mungo Park. Various editions; one 1857. 
Story of Africa. Robert Brown, 1892-95. 
Europe in Africa in the Nineteenth Century. Elizabeth Wormeley 

Latimer, 1898. 
Historical Research into the Politics, Intercourse, and Trade of the 

Carthaginians, Ethiopians, and Egyptians. A. H. L. Heeren 

(Bohn's Library), 1850. 
Through Jungle and Desert. W. A. Chanler, 1896. 
In African Forest and Jungle. Paul Du Chaillu, ed., 1903. 
Journal of an Expedition to Explore the Course and Termination of 

the Niger. R. L. Lander and John Lander, 1832. 
Travels in Interior Districts of Africa. Mungo Park. 
Flashlights in the Jungle. C. G. Schillings, 1905. 
Scouting for Stanley in East Africa. Thomas Stevens, 1890. 
Ismailia : a Narrative of the Expedition to Central Africa for the 

Suppression of the Slave Trade. Sir Samuel White Baker, 

1821, 1875, 1893. 
In Wildest Africa. C. G. Schillings, 1907. 
In Darkest Africa. Sir Henry Morton Stanley, 1890. 
Fighting the Slave-hunters in Central Africa. Alfred James Swan, 

1910. 
The British Mission to Uganda in 1893. Sir Gerald [Herbert] 

Portal, 1894. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 303 

On Safari: Big Game Hunting in British East Africa. Abel 

Chapman, 1908. 
My African Journey. Right Hon. Winston Spencer Churchill, 

1908. 
Camera Adventures in the African Wilds. Arthur RadclyrTe 

Dugmore, 1910. 
In Africa: Hunting Adventures in the Big Game Country. 

John T. McCutcheon, 19 10. 
Hunting in British East Africa. Percy C. Madeira, 1909. 
Man-eaters of Tsavo and Other East African Adventures. J. H. 

Patterson, 1907. 
The Land of the Lion. W. S. Rainsford, 1909. 
African Game-trails. Theodore Roosevelt, 19 10. 
To Abyssinia, through an Unknown Land. Chauncy Hugh 

Stigand, 19 10. 
France in North Africa. T. W. Balch, 1906. 
Roman Africa: Archaeological Walks in Algeria and Tunis. 

Gaston Boissier, 1899. 
White Man's Africa. Poultney Bigelow, 1898. 
Monkeyfolk of South Africa. F. W. Fitzsimmons, 191 1 
Lassooing Wild Animals in Africa. Guy H. Scull, 1911. 
The Engineer in South Africa : a Review of the Industrial Situation 

in South Africa after the War and a Forecast of the Possibili- 
ties of the Country. [James] Stafford Ransome, 1903. 
The South African Natives : the Progress and Present Condition. 

Edited by the South African Native Races Committee, 1909. 
Britain's Title in South Africa ; or the Story of Cape Colony to the 

Days of the Great Trek. James Cappon, 1901. 
London to Lady smith via Pretoria. Winston Churchill, 1900. 
Rights and Wrongs of the Transvaal War. Edited by T. Cook, 

1902. 
England and South Africa. E. J. Gibbs, 1887. 
Dr. Jameson's Raid : its Causes and Consequences. Rev. James 

King, 1896. 
Story of South Africa (Cape Colony, Natal, Orange Free State, 

South Africa Republic). Story of the Nations Series, 1894. 
Briton and Boer : both Sides of the South African Question. Right 

Hon. James Bryce and others, 1900. 
Breath of the Veldt. J. G. Millars, 1899. 
The Country of the Dwarfs. Paul Du Chaillu, 1903. 



304 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The Jungle Folk of Africa. R. H. Milligan, 1908. 

The Niger and the West Sudan. A. J. N. Tremearne, 1910. 

The Kairwan, the Holy : Scenes in Muhammedan Africa. A. A. 

Boddy. 
Lake Regions of Central Africa. R. F. Burton. 
Travels through Central Africa. Rene Caillie. 
Dr. Livingstone's Seventeen Years' Exploration and Adventures in 

the Wilds of Africa. Edited by J. H. Coombs. 
Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern Central Africa. 

2 vols. D. Denham and H. Clapperton. 
Travels and Researches among the Lakes and Mountains of Eastern 

and Central Africa. J. F. Elton. 
The Heart of Africa. 2 vols. G. H. Schweinfurth. 
How I Crossed Africa. 2 vols. Serpa Pinto. 
Travels and Adventures in Africa. J. H. Speke and J. A. Grant. 
Coomassie and Magdala: the Story of Two British Campaigns in 

Africa. H. M. Stanley. 
How I Found Livingstone. 2 vols. H. M. Stanley. 
Through the Dark Continent. 2 vols. H. M. Stanley. 
On the South African Frontier ; the Adventures of an American 

in Mashonaland and Matabeleland. 1899. 
South Africa of Today. F. E. Younghusband, 1898. 
South Africa and the Transvaal War. 6 vols. L. Creswicke, 

1900-01. 
Cecil Rhodes: a Study of a Career. H. Hensman, 1901. 
The Moorish Empire: an Historical Epitome. B. Meaken, 1899. 
The Land of the Moors. B. Meaken, 1901. 
Portuguese Expedition to Abyssinia in 1 541-1543. M. de Castan- 

hose. 
History of the Civilization of Africa by Alien Races. Sir Harry 

Hamilton Johnston, 1899. 
Ancient Remains of Rhodesia. Richard Nicklin Hall and W. G. 

Neal, 1902. 
Africa from South to North through Marotseland. 2 vols. Alfred 

St. Hill Gibbons, 1904. 
Sea-Wolves of the Mediterranean. Edward Hamilton Curry, 19 10. 
The Nile Quest. Sir H. H. Johnston. 
Morocco : painted by A. S. Forrest, described by S. L. Bensusan, 

1904. 
Life in Morocco and Glimpses Beyond. Budgett Meaken, 1905. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 305 

The Congo: a Report of the Commission of Enquiry appointed 

by the Congo Free State Government, 1906. 
Africa and the American Flag. Lieut. Andrew Hull Foote (U. S. 

Navy), 1862. 
Modern Egypt. 2 vols. Earl Cromer, 1908. 
The Story of the Congo Free State. Henry Wellington Wack, 1905. 
Liberia. 2 vols. Sir H. H. Johnston, 1906. 
In Morocco with General D'Amande. Reginald Rankin, 1908. 
The Truth about Morocco. M. Aflalo, 1904. 
The Egyptian Sudan: its History and Monuments. 2 vols. 

E. A. Wallis Budge, 1907. 
Mahdism and the Egyptian Sudan. Maj. F. R. Wingate, 1891. 
The Passing of the Shereefian Empire. E. Ashmead-Bartlett, 

1910. 
In the Grip of the Nyika. Lt.-Col. J. H. Patterson, 1909. 
With Kitchener to Khartum. G. W. Steevens, 1898. 
Ten Years in Equatorial Africa and the Return with Emin Pasha. 

Maj. Gaetano Casati, translated by the Hon. Mrs. J. 

Randolph Clay, 1891. 
Morocco : its People and Places. 2 vols. Edmondo de Amicis, 

translated by Maria Hornor Lansdale, 1897. 
The Gold Coast Past and Present. George Macdonald, 1898. 
History of the Emigrant Boers in South Africa. George McCall 

Theal, 1888. 
A Search for Winter Sunbeams. Samuel S. Cox. 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Abydos, 124. 

Abyssinia, 149; Christianity in, 
23; development, 152; physical 
geography, 151. 

Afar region, East Africa, 147. 

Africa, American interest in, xi, 
263; attention to, x; circum- 
navigation of, 15; conditions 
in, xi; crossed in 1550, 23; de- 
velopment, 18; divided among 
European nations, 235; emer- 
gence from darkness, 20; first 
impressions, 4; for colonists, 
239; for sportsmen, 245; maps, 
18; mysterious land, 2; Na- 
ture's works in, 6; oases, 73; 
present political divisions, 233; 
the name, xiv. 

Africa Portugesa, xv. 

Africa Propria, xiv. 

African Lakes, 296. 

African slave trade, 255. 

Akka Duimeni, quoted, 36. 

Alexandria, 116. 

Algeria, 42; history, 43. 

Al-Kebutan, xv. 

America and Barbary corsairs, 
250; and African slave trade, 
255; American protectorate 
over Liberia, 172. 

American interest in Africa, xi, 
263. 

Amins, Kabyle chiefs, 32. 



Ancient sacrifice at Nile's rise, 114. 

Angell, Norman, "The Great 
Illusion," 135. 

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, 130, 137; 
archaeology, 141; crops, 140; 
facilities for travel, 138; in- 
habitants, 137; joint admini- 
stration, 136; railways, 139; 
steamboats on Nile, 140. 

Angola (Portuguese), 24, 157, 185. 

Apes' Hill, 5. 

Aphirika, xiv. 

Arabia Felix, xv. 

Arabs, 49, 54; changed geographi- 
cal names, xvi. 

Araglis, missionary, 24. 

Ascension Island, 281. 

Ashmun, Jehudi (see Liberia), 
171. 

Asia, attention to, x. 

"Aspects of Islam" quoted, 105. 

Assouan dam, 112. 

Aston, John, his edition of "Sir 
John Maundeville," 8. 

Athos, "Egyptian Venus," 125. 

Atlas Mountains, 39. 

Attention to Africa and Asia, x. 

Azores, 13. 

Bab-el-Mandeb, Straits of, 5. 
Baker, Sir Samuel White, in, 292. 
Barbary, xv. 
Barbary corsairs, 2, 250. 



309 



3io 



INDEX 



Barca, see Tripoli, 44. 

Barotseland, 210. 

Barrage at Nile Delta, 112. 

Bast (Bubastis), Festival of, 118. 

Basutoland, 198. 

Bazehah, name for Africa, xiv. 

Belgian Kongo, conditions in, 273; 

negroes, 23. 
Belgians in Katanga, 133. 
Belgium, xii; began "grab game," 

239- 

Beltrame, missionary, 25. 

Beni-Hassan, grottoes of, 124. 

Bethencourt, Jean de, 13. 

Beyond Khartum, 126. 

Bibliography, none complete, x. 

Bilad es-Sudan, "Country of the 
Blacks," 127. 

Break in intercourse between 
West and East, 11. 

Breto, missionary, 23. 

British East Africa, 153; railways, 
154; pygmies, 155. 

British Gold Coast Colony, 173; 
monotonous forests, 174; rail- 
ways, 174. 

British Somaliland, 148. 

British South African Company, 
210. 

Bruce, James, 23. 

Bubastis (Bast), Festival of, 118. 

Bunbury, E. H., 10. 

Bushmen, 200. 

Bushongo nation, 268; "Throw- 
ing Knife," 269. 

Cairo, "Arabian Nights," 96; 

dancing-girls, 98; old, 117; 

point of departure for Nile trip, 

118; women of, 96. 
Cambyses, 7, in. 



Camel, "the ship of the desert," 6. 

Canary, the "Fortunate," Isles, 
13, 278. 

Cape of Good Hope, Province 
of, 191; flora and fauna, 193; 
agriculture, 194; communica- 
tions, 195. 

Cape to Cairo Railway, 285; con- 
necting railways, 296; general 
sketch of, 290; suggestions to 
travellers, 299; trains, 298. 

Cape Town, 6. 

Cape Verd Islands, 280. 

Caravan routes, 75. 

Caspian Sea, "connected with 
Baltic," 6. 

Castro, missionary, 23. 

Catabathmos, xvi. 

Cataracts, Nile, 119, 125. 

Central Africa, political divisions, 
127. 

Chad, Lake, 128. 

Character of Early Explorers, 22. 

China, x, xi. 

Christian propaganda, 24. 

Circumnavigation of Africa, 15. 

Civilisation in Africa, ancient, 20. 

"Cleopatra's Needles," 116. 

Colenso, Bishop of Natal, 28. 

"Coming Africa," 264. 

Commencement of modern explo- 
ration, xi, 20. 

"Complete System of Geography, 
etc.," 19. 

Conditions in China, xi. 

Connaught, Duke of, on Rhodesia, 
213. 

Convent of the Virgin, Coptic, 123. 

Cooley, W. D., English geog- 
rapher, 24. 

Coptic Convent of the Virgin, 123. 



INDE X 



311 



Cosmopolitan Egypt, 99. 

Cox, Samuel S., "A Search for 

Winter Sunbeams," 50. 
Crossing of Africa in 1550, 23. 
Crusades, apathy of Spain and 

Portugal, 12. 

Dancing-girls, Cairo, 98. 

Dahabeeyah, 121. 

Dahlak archipelago, 146. 

Dahomey, 177. 

Damietta, 118. 

Delta barrage, Nile, 112. 

Denham, Major, 18. 

Dervishes, 134. 

Desert, physical appearance, 65; 

inhabitants of, 76. 
Development in Africa, 18. 
Diaz, Bartholomew, rounds 

Africa, 14. 
Discovery of Nile's sources, no. 
Duke of Connaught on Rhodesia, 

213. 
Duparquet's expedition from 

Walfish Bay, 26. 
Dutch, colonists, 27; E. I. Co., 

192. 

East Africa, included territory, 

144; Nyika, 158. 
Egypt and Babylonia and Syria, 

81; British control, xii; for 

invalids, 95; now, 94. 
Egypt Marmorica, xvi. 
Egyptian history, 80; peasants, 

98; Sudan, conquest of, 134; 

Venus, "Athos," 125. 
Egyptians, their origin, 82. 
El-ber, xiv. 
Elizabeth, Queen, shares in slave 

expedition, 256. 



Emin Pasha (Edouard Schnitzer), 
relief of, 17. 

English missionaries, their explo- 
rations, 27. 

Equatoria, 17. 

Erastothenes, 15; his description 
of Nile, in. 

Eritrea, 144; Afar region, 147; 
Dahlak archipelago, 146; in- 
habitants, 147; Masawah, 148. 

Ethiopia, name associated with 
Africa, 149. 

Ethiopian Kingdom, archaeologi- 
cal research in, 142. 

Etymology of "Africa," xv. 

European, immigration, 215; 
protectorates, 234. 

False Bay, 6. 

Faria-y-Sousa, explorer, xv. 

Fayum, 121. 

Fezzan, see Tripoli, 44. 

First impressions of Africa, 4. 

Fiske, John, 22. 

France in Africa, 238. 

French, Equatorial Africa, 166; 
Guinea, 169; Huguenots in 
South Africa, 192; Ivory Coast 
Colony, 173; Somaliland, 148; 
treatment of Algerines, 62. 

French and German agreement as 
to Morocco, etc., 3$, 34, 38. 

French possessions in West Africa, 
163; towns, 154; flora, 165. 

Gambia, 167. 
Game Reserves, 246. 
"Garden of Allah, The," 67-69. 
Gebet el-Teyr, clifTs of, 123. 
German East Africa, 155; railways, 
156; South West Africa, 188. 



312 



INDEX 



Germany's action in Morocco, 37; 

in Africa, 238. 
Ghizeh Palace, 101. 
Glave, explorer, 291. 
Godinha, missionary, 24. 
Goncalves, Antonio, first negro 

slaves, 16. 
Goodrich, Rear-Admiral C. F., 

quoted, 265, 273. 
Gouritz, R. W., 14. 
Grant, President, arbitration 

Great Britain and Portugal, 168. 
Gray, Major W., explorer, 166. 
Great Britain in Egypt, xii. 
"Great Illusion, The," Norman 

Angell, 135. 
Greeks in Africa, 7. 
Greeley, R. R. "Liberia," 171. 
Griqualand, East and West, 205. 

Hanno, 14. 

Harem, women of, 59. 

Hausa people, 176. 

Hawkins, Sir John, slave trade, 256. 

Hekataeus, map of Africa, 500 B.C., 

18. 
Herodotus, 9, 64, 118, 122. 
Hesperian Sea, xiv. 
Hichens, Robert, "The Garden 

of Allah," 67-69. 
History, present characteristics, 

xiii. 
Homeric notion of flat earth, 15. 
"How I Found Livingstone," 

H. M. Stanley, 17. 
Howling Dervishes, 116. 

Important "finds," 102. 

"In Darkest Africa," H. M. 

Stanley, 17. 
Indentured servitude, 259. 



Inquisition in Portugal, 23. 
International agreements, 241. 
Iphrica, xiv. 
Isis, temple near El-Mansoorah, 

118. 
Italian Somaliland, 148. 
Italian Turkish War, 191 1, 45. 
Italy, Tripoli and Abyssinia, 240. 

Jaine, missionary, 24. 

Jameson, C. D., conditions in 
China, xi. 

Jesuit mission, first in Africa, 23. 

"Jesuit Travels," 23. 

Jews in Africa, 49, 57. 

John II of Portugal, 14. 

John III of Portugal, 23. 

Joint administration of Anglo- 
Egyptian Sudan, 136. 

Kabinda, Portuguese possession, 

183. 
Kabyles, or Berbers, 49-51; their 

Amins, or chiefs, 52. 
Karnak, 83. 
Katanga, 132. 

Khalifa's defeat at Omdurman, 135. 
Kitchener, Field Marshal, Lord, 

Knoblesher, Ignaz, missionary 

up Nile, 25. 
Kolouges, 49-58. 
Kongo Free State, 183. 
Kongo, French, 180; railways 

and communications, 182. 
Kongo, missions in, 23. 
Kunene River, 24. 
Kwaidas of Wunzerik, 77. 

Labyrinth, 121. 

Lacerde y Almeida, F. J. de, 
explorer, 24. 



INDEX 



313 



Language problem in South Africa, 
215. 

Latham, R. G., 55. 

Lembobo (Limpopo) Mountains, 
197. 

Liberia, xi, 170; American Protec- 
torate, 172; Ashmun, J., 171; 
Greeley, R. R., 171. 

Libya, xiv, 64. 

Libyan Hills, 5. 

Livingstone, D., xiii, 25; Stanley's 
tribute to, 29, 291. 

Livingstone Mission, origin, 28. 

Loti, Pierre, "La Morte de Philae," 

Luxor, 119. 

Macdonald, D. B., "Aspects of 

Islam," 105. 
Machin, Robert, 13. 
Mackay, A. M., news of Emin 

Pasha, 26. 
Mac Leod, Miss Olive, trip to 

Mao Kabi River, 129. 
Madagascar Island, 281. 
Madeira Islands, 13, 276. 
Maghreb, xiv. 
Maltese in Africa, 60. 
Manoel, King of Portugal, 23. 
Mao Kabi River, 29. 
Maps of Africa, 18. 
Mare, Infernum, Magnum, xiv. 
Mariut, Lake, 116. 
Mashonaland, 211. 
Matabeleland, 211. 
Maundeville, Sir John, 8. 
Mauretania, leeches and vines, 10. 
Mauritius, Island, 283. 
Mediterranean shores, 5; pirates, 

12. 
Mela, Pomponius, xvi. 



Meneleek, King of Abyssinia, 
26, 149. 

Missionary, effort, 30; explora- 
tions, 25. 

Moeris, Lake, 123. 

Moinier, General, 35. 

Monuments, old, unknown, 85. 

Moors, in Spain and their expul- 
sion, 20, 49, 56. 

Moret, Alexander, 80. 

Morocco, 7,3, 34, 40; flora, 41. 

Mountains of the Moon, 10, 18. 

Mozabites, 50, 60. 

Mozambique, 24. 

Mosilikatsze, Zulu chief, 211. 

Mulai Hand, 35. 

Mummies, 102. 

"Narrative of Discovery and 
Adventure," 17. 

Nasamonians, 64. 

Natal, 195. 

Nature's workings in Africa, 6. 

Negro slavery, opposition to 
in United States, 260. 

Negroes, 50, 59, 218; adapted to 
Africa, 227; alcohol, 230; 
artistic ability, 223; cannibal- 
ism, 225; culture, 223; effect 
of European civilisation, 228; 
polygyny, 224; possibilities for, 
271; physical traits, 220; reli- 
gion, 226. 

Nile, 6; cataracts, 119; delta bar- 
rage, 112; Erastothenes' de- 
scription of, in; mouths, 108; 
overflow, effect on buildings, 84 ; 
rise, its importance, 114; old 
measure, 113; rivers, no; river 
steamboats, 120; source, dis- 
covery of, no. 



3U 



INDEX 



Noble, F. P., explorer, 31. 

Northern Africa, 32; "Land of 
Winter Sunbeams," 38; peo- 
ples, 49- 

Nyasa, Lake, 295. 

Nyasaland, 206. 

Nyika, 158; native dance, 159. 

Oases, 72, 73; artificial, 73; im- 
portant Saharan and Libyan, 
74; trade of, 75. 

Ohrwalder, news of Emin Pasha, 26. 

Old Cairo, 117. 

Old measure of Nile's rise, 113. 

Old, unknown monuments, 85. 

Orange Free State, 200; railways, 
201. 

"Origin of Aryans," 55. 

Opposition to negro slavery, 260. 

Pacheco, Father, missionary, 23. 

Paez, Father, missionary, 23. 

Park, Mungo, 18, 131, 166. 

Partition of Africa, 265. 

" People of the Throwing Knife," 
268. 

Peoples of Northern Africa, 49. 

Peterman, A., his tribute to mis- 
sionaries, 25. 

Pharaonic diplomacy, 83. 

Pharos, island and lighthouse, 116. 

Pherio, xv. 

Philae, island of, 125. 

Phoenicians, xv, 7. 

Pinto, Serpa, explorer, 291. 

Pirates, Mediterranean, n. 

Political aspects in Egypt, 108. 

Pompey's Pillar, 117. 

Ports of entry, ancient, 3. 

Portuguese, blocked in effort to 
reach East Indies, 21; desire to 



reach Far East, n; lead in 

West African exploration, 12. 
Portuguese East Africa, 156; 

railways, 157. 
Portuguese Guinea, 168. 
Portuguese South West Africa, 

Province of Angola, 185. 
Posidonius, 15. 
Possibilities, for African negroes, 

271; for Europeans in South 

Africa, 242. 
Prince Henry of Portugal, "The 

Navigator," 14. 
Procession of the Holy Carpet, 103. 
Protestant missions, lack of early 

zeal, 26. 
Province of Cape of Good Hope, 

191. 
Ptolemy, xv, 10, 16. 
Pyramids, 91. 

Quadra, 23. 

Quaker missions in Africa, 26. 

Rejaf Hill, 25. 

Reunion, Island of, 282. 

Rhamadan, fast, 105. 

Rhodes, Cecil, xiii. 

Rhodesia, 190, 207, 212. 

Rhodesian teak, 208. 

Rio d' Oro, 14, 161. 

Roman Catholic missions, 25. 

Romans, 7. 

Roosevelt, T., "African Game 

Trails," 248. 
Rosetta and "Rosetta Stone," 117. 
Rutsi Country, 24. 

Sahara, 6, 64; its political fate, 78. 
St. Helena, island, 280. 
St. Matthews, island, 281. 



Mays 



a I9da 



INDEX 



315 



Sallust, xvi. 

Schnitzer, Edouard, Emin Pasha, 
17, 26. 

Scramble for Africa, 176, 235. 

Senussi, 78. 

Serpa Pinto, 291. 

Seychelles, islands, 283. 

Sherboro, island, 14. 

Sierra Leone, 14, 169. 

Slave Coast, 175. 

Slave trade, 256. 

Slaves in America, 216. 

Sokotra, island, 284. 

Sources of the Nile, 18. 

South Africa, for Americans, 216; 
temperature variations, 299. 

Spanish Colony, Rio d' Oro, 161; 
Muni, 180. 

Speke and Grant, explorers, 292. 

Stanley, H. M., xiii, 292; relief of 
Emin Pasha, 17; tribute to Liv- 
ingstone, 29; his "How I Found 
Livingstone," 17; "In Darkest 
Africa," 17. 

Steevens, G. W., "With Kitchener 
to Khartum," 134. 

Stormy Cape, Cape of Good 
Hope, 14. 

Strabo, 9. 

Sudan, 127. 

Suez Canal, no locks, 4. 

Swaziland, 197. 

Talbot, P. A., 129. 
Tanganyika, lake, 293. 
Taylor, Canon Isaac, 55. 
Temples, desecration of, 89; de- 
scription, 81. 
Teneriffe, Peak of, 279. 
"The Coming China," xi. 
"The Dark Continent," xii. 



"The Garden of Allah," 67. 

"The Sea-Wolves of the Mediter- 
ranean," 12. 

"The Tomb Robber," 102. 

"The Universal History," xvii. 

Thebes, 119. 

Thinite Dynasty, 81. 

"Throwing Knife," people of the, 
268. 

Togoland, 175. 

Toka, plateau, 24. 

Torday, E., 268. 

Transcontinental railways, 286. 

Tripoli, 44, 240; mastiffs as 
watchmen, 61. 

Tuareks (Wild Berbers), 77. 

Tunis, 43. 

Turkey in Africa, 237. 

Turks in Africa, 49, 58. 

"Unexplored" regions of the 
earth, 1. 

Union of South Africa, 190. 

United States and Christian 
missions, 263. 

Upper Senegal and Niger, prov- 
ince, 166. 

Valleys in the desert, 65. 
Victoria Falls, 24. 
Victoria Nyanza, lake, 295. 
Vischer, Hanns, 67. 
Volga River, 16. 

Wady Haifa, 119. 

Walfish Bay (British), 187. 

Western Africa, political divisions, 

161. 
White Man's Africa, 267. 
"With Kitchener to Khartum," 

134- 



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